The Ninjutsu Kid
by pddpro
Summary: When hiding from Dudley and his gang, Harry encounters a strange old man who resembles Mr. Miyagi. Who is the strange old man? And why can he fly? Will he teach Harry to fly as well? Rated M for swear words. This is a Gen as of now. Pairings might be decided later on (by a vote perhaps?)
1. First Meeting

It had all started, as Harry would recall in the later stages of his life, from one particular session of Dudley's favorite game of "Harry Hunting".

Harry had been hiding in the alley, desperately attempting to calm his thundering heart to just shut the hell up lest Dudley hear it and give him another chase. It was then that he had first seen the man.

The first thing Harry had noted about him was that he was awfully filthy. Dirt was on his already torn clothes which were shoddily fixed by clumsy patches, his hair was all dirty from not showering for many days. He was old too. Whitish hair and wrinkles on his face being the two signs that Harry had quickly picked up. Apart from that, the man wasn't really that remarkable. However, a thing about the man that finalized it for Harry that the man indeed belonged to that "sort", which Aunt Petunia constantly talked about, was that he was reeking of alcohol.

Not that Harry, aged eight, would even know about alcohol. It was just that Aunt Petunia would always threaten him to give him away to that "sort" of man whenever the two of them encountered one with the same smell. The fact that Uncle Vernon often smelled of the same only made it more confusing. One thing was for sure though, there was wisdom in avoiding any person who even remotely smelled like his Uncle Vernon. And Harry would have avoided the man… if not for his precarious position.

The man walked towards the spot where Harry was hiding. A sudden jolt of fear instantly heightened Harry's recently calmed heartbeats and for a moment, he worried that his heart really was coming out of his chest.

"Come out boy," the man said in a slurred voice. There was also something else there. He sounded like Aunt Petunia in what his Uncle Vernon said her "those days". Growing up, Harry would later identify it as irritation.

Harry was a brave boy but the fact that the man was between him and the exit of the alley had unnerved him, not to mention that he was still but a child. Thus, a very meek Harry emerged a second later from the small hideout that he had taken shelter in.

He stood in front of the man and began fidgeting, his heart still thundering in his chest.

"What're you waiting for you brat? Go away.. Shoo!" The man made motion and opened up a small path for him. Feeling almost delightful, Harry hurriedly scurried away from there and broke into a run without glancing backward even once. He would never go to that place if he could help it.

But of course, he couldn't help it. Because, as soon as he had made that decision, he had immediately spotted Dudley and his gang who had apparently still been searching for him. Forgetting the encounter that he had had only a few minutes ago, Harry dashed for the same alley only to find a scene much more frightening than he had ever seen in his six year old life.

A youth who he knew to be a "punk" – according to Uncle Vernon's running commentary on that soap that came every Saturday on the telly – was holding the old man, who was lying on the ground, on knife and was muttering something unintelligible. Harry sneaked towards the old man and could make out the words of the punk.

"I swear to god old man, I will fucking kill you! Just give me the damn money! I know you drink you fucking hobo, give me a fiver or I'll really kill you, you fucking piece of shit!"

Feeling oddly brave, Harry crept behind the punk very very slowly. His once thundering heartbeat had oddly calmed down and only one thing was playing across his mind: he had to save the old man. He didn't know how, he didn't even know why but he just had to save him.

By pure luck, a discarded baseball bat happened to be lying on the ground near Harry, who sneakily picked it up, managing to not make any sound at all. He could still hear the punk berating the old man,

"Stop ignoring me you cunt! Get up!"

The punk, finally reaching the end of his patience, swung the knife towards the old man to stab him dead.. only to be interrupted as he felt an uncomfortable pain on his back. Turning back to look on the source of his discomfort, he found a small brat standing there with a baseball bat staring at him defiantly.

"Leave him alone!" Harry said!

"Why you!" the punk screamed and lunged at him. Harry, not feeling so brave now, closed his eyes instinctively and waited for a pain that never came… a moment later, he heard a thud and opened his eyes only to see the punk lying flat on the ground and the old man, now conscious, standing over him looking at him with mild curiosity.

"Why'd you do that boy?" The old man asked him.

"W-What?"

"Why did you hit him?" he clarified.

"He was going to hurt you! I wasn't going to let that happen!" Harry said defiantly.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Harry snapped at him.

"Why weren't you going to let that happen?" the man clarified again.

"Well it's wrong innit? I shouldn't let somebody get hurt if I can," Harry said as if it was the most natural thing to say to anybody.

He was irritated that the man was asking him so many questions. In his irritation, he had forgotten about his earlier apprehension towards the man.

The man looked oddly contemplative for a second, then said in a gruff tone.

"Don't bother me next time kid.. now go away, shoo!"

With that, Harry moved out from the alley, hoping not to run into Dudley again and silently cursing the man for being so rude.

 _One year later_

Harry had almost forgotten the man, in fact, a day or two and all memories of the man would have been gone from his head. But it was not so.

Dudley and his gang had, for some odd reasons, vandalized the school's bathroom. As usual, the blame had fallen to Harry which was unfair as he was locked up in a different bathroom at that time by none other than Dudley himself. Nevertheless, Harry ended up with the blame and was subsequently punished by the teacher to aid the man who the school had called to fix the bathroom.

Yes, the man was the same old man that Harry had met a year back. However, the man never made any move to acknowledge that he had ever met Harry before. Thus, Harry mimicked the same and lingered around the man to pass him some of the tools that the man would ask for. He kept fumbling though, and kept handing the wrong tools to the man which wasn't his fault really seeing as he didn't really know the name of the tools. But it annoyed the man all the same and he dismissed Harry an hour before his intended detention.

Harry was glad that he was spared early or Aunt Petunia would have yelled at him again. That joy didn't last long. As they say, misfortune comes in a package. The day was not yet complete and Harry's share of misfortune was only just beginning. Dudley (again) and his gang had been waiting for him to come and once he was on their sight, they began a chase.

Harry ran desperately, as he always did, but a second group had been lying in wait for him in front (Dudley had apparently seen that tactic on one of his video games). Seeing that they were about to catch him, Harry began praying intensely for whoever was listening to not let him get caught. The world suddenly spun about him and Harry found himself on top of the school terrace.

He let out a breathe of relief at first, on being away from Dudley and his gang, followed by a shriek of terror as he comprehended where exactly he had wound up. It didn't took him too long to calm down, brave that he was, but calming down didn't seem to help when it came to getting down from the top of the school building where there was no stairs or ladder on hand.

So Harry did what a _sensible_ kid would do. He attempted to climb down from the terrace, instead of waiting for an adult to come by. After all, who needs an adult when you can just hang down from the ledges and swing yourself to one of the classroom through an open window?

Naturally, the plan didn't quite go so well. He slipped in the process of hanging down and began to fall to the ground, a shriek following his descent. Never had Harry felt so much terror in his entire life! That was why when he found himself down on the ground, completely unharmed, he was utterly perplexed.

Before he could convince himself that he had indeed survived and the world he was seeing was not his afterlife, a flash of someone turning around the corner caught his eyes. Harry sprinted around the corner to see… nothing which was weird because he was sure that he felt someone catching him in midair and descending him safely to the ground, which of course, couldn't really happen seeing as no person alive could leap so high.

For now though, he was safe… well, not entirely considering that Dudley and his gang were still searching for him. Nevertheless, the package of misfortune had exhausted itself for the day and all was well. Now only if Aunt Petunia not shout at him for being late..

A month later, Harry found himself running again. A passerby or two commented something like "wannabe marathon runner," or something else, he wasn't entirely sure, which was as far away from the truth as was Aunt Petunia's food from being delicious. No, Harry Potter was not running away to train to bag a gold medal in Olympics. He was running because Dudley and his gang were at his tail… again.

While Dudley didn't really need a reason to give him a chase, this time there was one. Uncle Vernon had brought a DVD home called "The Karate Kid" due to Dudley's whining about it. Dudley apparently had Piers tell him that his brothers and other cool kids were talking about that Miyagi man from the Karate Kid and Dudley too had wanted to talk about the old man. Which, of course, meant that he had to watch the movie first. Hence the DVD.

Now Dudley watched the movie for the entire length of ten minutes until he realized that his favorite series was on the Telly. He rushed out the room and incidentally, left the DVD open. Harry, whom Aunt Petunia had ordered to clean Dudley's room, then entered the room to find the DVD open and ended up watching the entire movie!

Dudley then entered the room just when the movie was ending (talk about timing!) and Harry, who had known about cool kids watching "The Karate Kid" couldn't restrain himself from taunting him. Later he would realize that taunting "I watched the movie! I know about Miyagi and you don't Dud!" wasn't the wisest move of the year. At least he got to see Dudley's face get the same purple shade as his Uncle Vernon's. Totally worth it!

Which brings us back to Harry running away from Dudley and his gang.

Harry now had a respectable distance from the Harry hunting party — which essentially meant that he would have Dudley easily distracted by the time he closed the gap. Thus, he had stopped to catch his breath. It was then that he witnessed an amazing sight.

An old man, who he readily recognized as the same old man he had encountered the two times and who looked suspiciously like Mr. Miyagi, dropped.. from.. the.. fudging.. sky! Harry rubbed his eyes twice, in fact he even pinched himself, hard, to confirm that he was not dreaming and that he really had witnessed a man drop from the sky and inside the alley!

Bravery or curiosity or something else Harry knew not, prompted him to go inside the same alley that he had his first encounter with the old man. He had expected to find a dead body, possibly squashed (as Uncle Vernon had mentioned what happens to those who do not behave and are thus flung from the Big Ben) but he was much surprised (and a bit disappointed) to find that the man was lying on the ground and snoring but was not dead!

Again, Harry knew not what it was but it prompted him to go in front of the lying man and shake him awake. And then shake him again once he did not react at all! And then again. For an entire hour he shook the man before the man regained his awareness. Needless to say, he wasn't happy at all!

"Stop manhandling me you infernal.. oh it's you," said the old man in a groggy voice.

"Yes. Excuse me, but did you fall from the sky?" Harry asked, unable to restrain his curiosity.

"Go the fuck away kid. I haven't slept enough," the man then proceeded to drop on the ground as if he were dead.

Additional fifteen minutes worth of shaking him awake later, the man woke up again and practically yelled at him.

"What's the problem with you kid!? Can't stand a sleeping man? Next time I will just let you fall down. Ungrateful brat!"

The man was drunk enough to not control what he had just said. It was only after a spell of silence surrounded the two, that he realized the impact of his words. He looked visibly guilty and tried to soothe the situation,

"Listen kid, I didn't really mean that okay? I mean, you are a bother and all but.. what I mean is.."

"It was you!" Harry exclaimed!

"Yes, yes, I didn't really mean to say... What?" the man snapped up from his reverie.

"It was you who saved me!" Harry cried out loud.

"I don't know what you are talking about," the old man said.

"Back when I was stuck at the school terrace and then I slipped up, it was you who caught me! You saved my life!"

" _Fat lot of_ _good that did me,_ _"_ he muttered. But he had underestimated the loudness that came with silence of the alley and a keen kid who was hanging on your word.

"It WAS you! Oh my god, thank you so much sir! And you can fly too! That explains everything! You are superman! Oh no, wait, you are Mr. Miyagi. No, Mr. Miyagi was kinda short and a little round too, and he's a telly character, Uncle Vernon says that telly characters aren't supposed to be real. Who are you?" Harry asked, catching his breath.

The old man let out a sigh and looked as if he was internally cursing the stars for bringing this bundle of joy to his doorsteps (alleysteps).

"Look, kid. It's not that I don't like you even though I do not, in fact, like you but you are not supposed to know that. I did save your life, yes, but what I am saying is, you just forget what you saw today and then I'll forget that I saved your life and then we'll call it even. What do you say?"

"But I can't! You saved me from falling from that terrace and that woman on the telly said that you simply cannot forget those who save your life. Does that mean that I have to date you? Which is fine by me but I don't really know what date means."

The man let out a huge sigh. This problem at his hands was not going away apparently..

"Just.. Just go away kid.. and you don't need to date me. I don't really need cops on my alley right now."

"Okay sir, I'll be back though!" said Harry cheerfully.

"Fine with me kid!" the man too waved in a fake cheer. After Harry turned the corner, he heard something that sounded suspiciously like, "Time to go away."


	2. Sensei and Disciple

Harry was incensed. It had been two entire months since he had searched for the old man again but he had found nothing at all! It was as if the old man didn't exist in the first place! On top of that, Aunt Petunia had wanted carrots to prepare pudding for Dudley. And just his luck, the nearby grocery store had run out of carrots.

It was thus that he had roamed outside of Little Whinging in search of some carrots. And it was thus that he had found himself surrounded by a few punks.

"Well.. looky looky! A little rat with her majesty in his pockets! Where did you steal that from boy?"

The leader, was a good-for-nothing boy who reminded Harry of Piers Polkiss' elder brother, said in a disgusting voice.

"I didn't steal it!" Harry protested. He couldn't stand being called a thief, least of all by suspicious looking strangers.

"Oh? So where did it come from? Your girlfriend give it to you?" the boy asked and others snickered.

"My aunt gave it to me!" Harry said vehemently.

"Listen lads, the rat says his aunt gave it to him! Now I ask to myself, just who might be the aunt of this bags-for-clothes wearing rat be? I reckon he is lying.. isn't he lads?"

Those surrounding the two of them snickered again. For all they knew, Harry really was a street-rat. He dressed the part at least.

"I am not lying. Her name is Aunt Petunia.. and don't call me rat!" Harry said.

The boy suddenly moved into Harry and grabbed his messy hair. Harry winced in pain.

"You don't get to decide what I call you.. rat," the boy said menacingly, "and as for your aunt, I don't believe you! Now give it here."

The boy lunged for Harry's money but he underestimated Harry's speed and resourcefulness. In a move that would someday make his thirty-year-old self reviewing his memory in a pensieve proud, Harry punched the boy right between his legs before the boy could grab his money. With a painful yelp, the boy let go of Harry's hair. Taking advantage of that, Harry ran as fast as he could.

Unfortunately, he was a little kid, with little legs and as much elusive as he could be with Dudley and his groupies, he couldn't beat the older kids in speed. They caught him fast.

"You fucker! Thought you'd hit me and run did you? I'll show you not to mess with me you rat!" the older boy, who was still wincing from pain pulled out a knife (seriousy, what's with punks and knife?) and displayed it in a menacing fashion to Harry who was restrained by two other kids on his either side.

Fortunately, the boy was all talk and no knife-action and he didn't actually plunged knife to Harry's gut. He only grabbed the twenty pounds on Harry's pockets.

"I'll let you go for now kid," the boy said after getting the money, "I'm feeling generous you see?" He waved the money on Harry's face.

The two boys who'd been restraining him, let go of their hands freeing Harry. This was a very good development. He was unhurt and all he was missing was a small sum of money and Aunt Petunia would understand if he explained the situation to her, hopefully… (well, let's just be honest, she wouldn't). This was how a rational person would have thought of the situation. Harry, unfortunately, was not a rational person. After all, we can't really expect a nine year old to be rational now can we?

Thus, he lunged at the boy, instead of turning the other way and fleeing. He might also have made a warcry like, "Give me my money you punk or I'll skin you alive!" (an older Harry would blame it to the telly).

What followed was a not-so-good-to-look-at beating of Harry on the hands (and legs) of three older boys. After five minutes or an hour, depending on whom you asked, the beating stopped. By then, Harry was in a very bad shape.

"We're forgiving you this time kid. Don't mess up with us, better yet, don't appear on this neighborhood you hear? We ain't got patience with rats like you."

The kids then turned back and walked. They had just moved five or so steps before they were stopped by a small murmur.

"What'd you say?" The leader asked to one of his groupies.

"It's not me, the rat.. He is muttering something."

The boy then turned towards the small kid who was still lying on the ground and true enough, the boy was muttering something.

"… money …"

"What are you muttering you rat!?" They boy asked.

"… said, give… money"

"What!?"

And then it happened. Remember the intensity of a sound when you have the misfortune of being in front of a loud speaker at a badly organized metallic concert? A sound, hundred times louder than that rang from Harry's mouth!

"I SAID GIVE ME MY MONEY!"

The boys who were in front of that sound were blown away by it. All windows inside Harry's one mile radius shattered and the sound was heard all over Little Whinging, probably even all of Surrey!

The boys, who were high and mighty a minute ago, were now afraid.. Very very afraid.

"Give me my money!" Harry rose from the ground and stepped towards them.

Had they not been so fearful, the boys would have noticed a streak of tear running through Harry's face. They also didn't know that the sound was prompted by Harry's desperation.

"D-Don't come near me you freak!" the boy cried.

Harry, however, didn't stop.

"I-I'm w-warning you!"

Still no reaction from Harry.

A rational decision at this point would have been to drop the money on the ground and then run away from Harry as fast as one could. And that was the very thing that the boys did. For a street bully, they did have a good head on their shoulders.

Harry took the money from the ground and then began to cry. His fear when the boys cornered him, his fear when that one pulled out a knife, the thought of Aunt Petunia scolding him for losing the money, the relief he felt afterwards and his fear of the impossible sound that he made to scare the kids… everything came pouring out of him.

"I am a freak. Like Dudley always calls me. Guess he was right." He said to no one in particular.

"No you are not," came an unexpected reply.

Harry looked up to see the same old man that he had searched for an entire two months! Harry didn't have the energy to scold the man for avoiding him for such a long time.

"I made that sound… didn't you hear? I am a freak!"

The man knelt down in front of him and said in a very kind voice.

"That unholy sound you mean? Kid, you would have made a certain demon I know proud with that… trust me, I heard it. But believe me, you are not a freak."

Harry looked up and saw the man's face again. He was dirty still, yes, with his tattered clothes and matted hair and dirt clinging all over his body. But once you looked past his appearance, there was kindness and strength. A feeling as if he could trust the man with anything swept over Harry and a dam broke. Over the course of an entire hour, Harry related all of the strange incidents that had happened around him, those that had made him feel like a freak.

"And then Dudley was chasing me with his gang and suddenly I appeared to the top of the school building!"

"So that's how you went up there? Hmm… I thought you were either a brave or a foolish kid who climbed it for attention."

"Why would I climb it for attention?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I don't know, a kid I knew in my childhood did it," the old man shrugged his shoulders.

"Anyways, you see, a normal person couldn't have done it. So I am not normal. I am a freak!"

The old man groaned. The kid had been saying this over and over again for the past hour.

With a feeling that he was going to regret this later, he moved his palm towards the kid and not a second later, a spiraling blue orb of energy danced on it.

"Whoa!" Harry said in awe!

"This is what I called the Rasengan. It is a ball of pure energy that can destroy almost anything on its path, if you can pump enough energy to it of course."

Harry looked at the man, a new kind of trust in his eyes.

"You can do the weird stuffs too!" He exclaimed.

"Yes I can kid, but the weird stuffs that you do and the weird stuffs that I do are different."

"You can fly! Can I fly too!?"

A tick mark formed on the man's head, the kid had just ignored his words.

"Now listen here you little rascal, I just said that you and me are different. And no, I didn't fly, I just took a really long jump."

"Can you teach me how to fly?"

A second tick formed on his head.

"Oh please please please, will you teach me?"

The old man looked at the kid again with the intention to yell a big fat _no_ at the kid's face. However, all his anger and irritation vanished once he met the kid's extremely eager and hopeful eyes. At that instant, those emerald green eyes on the boy's face reminded him of a pair of intense cerulean blue eyes and the small kid that had once sported those same eyes. He didn't know what possessed him but he just couldn't stop himself from saying,

"All right all right! I'll teach you kid, happy?"

"Yes!"

Harry lunged at the man and then enveloped him with a hug. The old man unconsciously returned the hug.

"Alright then! Teach me sensei! Am I to wash the car with my bare hands or perhaps paint the walls!? I don't think Uncle Vernon would let me near his car, but I can convince Aunt Petunia that the garden walls need a paint…"

"Hold on a minute kid. What did you call me?" the old man said, in a dazed tone.

"Sensei? It's just that the kid on that movie calls Mr. Miyagi sensei too… And I thought you look like Mr. Miyagi."

Harry explained hesistantly.

"You called me Sensei?" The man looked sad for a moment, "It has been so long since I was called that. I wonder if I deserve it again…"

The old man was, for a moment, lost in reminiscense. Suddenly, his demeanor changed as if he had decided something.

"Alright kid, I'll accept that word from you."

Following his newly minted sensei's word, Harry broke into a wide grin.

"And kid, you don't need to wash the car and you definitely don't need to paint the walls. What you do need… is to eat."

Harry looked puzzled.

"You are too thin for your age. My training will require that you have a good stamina as well as a good muscle mass."

The kid mumbled something that sounded like, "my aunt and uncle"

"Your aunt and uncle don't give you food?" The old man asked him.

"They do… It's just that I never get a second helping and the first is so small." He said in a small voice.

"Don't worry kid. Say, do you remember the first time we met? In that alley?"

Harry nodded.

"From now on, whenever you have time you go there. There will always be some food waiting for you at that place."

"Really? You will really do this for me?" Harry asked.

"You have called me sensei and I have accepted it kid. Know this about your sensei, he never takes that word lightly. Now off you go, don't you have something to buy?"

Harry suddenly remembered that yes, he did indeed have something to buy. Thanking his sensei, he ran towards the supermarket sporting the happiest smile on his face.


	3. Hogwarts Letter Arrives

The first thing Harry had learned about his sensei was that "he never took that word lightly" (whatever that meant). The second thing he learned was that his sensei was brutal… extremely brutal.

He had nearly died that one time when his sensei had made him run all day to "test his limits". Of course, Harry had given up on the first half hour but his sensei had still made him run. When he had found that he couldn't run any longer, he was given a mild electric shock or _motivation_ as his sensei said.

Pushups, situps, running, jumping, swimming… every exercise that was in existence, Harry had done them all. Whenever he would get too tired he would get a _motivation_ and then he would no longer feel tired lest he get a bigger _motivation._

Sometimes, Harry would ask himself just why had he wanted to train under his sensei? Then he would remember that he had seen him fly and had wanted to fly like him too. Of course, sensei still hadn't taught him that but he knew better than to argue, for his sensei was pretty quick to hand _motivation_ to him on things like that and he also knew from a reputed source (the Karate kid) that there is a meaning to sensei's words. Well, at least Mr. Miyagi's words had a hidden meaning but his sensei looked a little like Mr. Miyagi so perhaps his method of training was similar too?

Whatever be the reason that he had started, Harry knew that he wasn't going to quit. For one, there was food! Lots and lots of food. Whenever he went to that alley, he would find as much food as one could eat! There were vegetables too which he kinda hated but his sensei insisted that he eat it so he put aside his dislike for broccoli and just eat it ( _motivation_ at work again). So for the first time in his life, Harry Potter was getting his fill. Which had shown on Harry's body in not even a month!

The biggest reason though, was not the food. It was his sensei's proud look whenever Harry would barely complete his exercises. Or whenever he would beat his last record by even a second! His sensei always encouraged him to give it his all during the training. For an unloved child like him, that love that his sensei showed towards him was something that he would never let go of.

His training had also brought some problems with it at first. For one, when was he supposed to get time for it? Aunt Vernon and Aunt Petunia had gotten suspicious after the first few times that he had disappeared and had forbidden him from going out again. Harry had been really worried about what would his sensei think if he didn't turn up. Fortunately, his aunt and uncle had let him go the next day without asking any questions at all. Something had changed that day but Harry knew not what. Well, his aunt and uncle had moved him from the cupboard to Dudley's second bedroom so whatever happened must have been good?

From then on, there were no interruptions to his training. He would train with his sensei at morning and evening and full days in the weekends and his summer vacations. He would always be sore after his training but then his sensei would run his hand over his body, a pale green light on his palm, and the soreness would instantly disappear and he would feel fresh afterwards. Even a few times that Harry had been injured had been magically healed by sensei's green lights. After the first few times, Harry had asked his sensei about the pale green light and the blue orb that sensei had shown him during their first meeting. That turned out to be an extremely enlightening conversation.

 _ **Flashback**_

"It's called Chakra, kid. It's the energy that resides in all living as well as non-living entities."

"Do I have chakra too, sensei?" Harry asked.

"Of course you do! I just said didn't I? Every living being has it and you, my little disciple, have it in spades. But I confess, I am a little curious about the nature of your chakra."

"Why are you curious about it sensei?" Harry asked.

"Alright then. I guess it's time for you to know," said his sensei while motioning him to sit opposite of him.

"There was once a civilization. Same as this one but diffent in many aspects. For one, that civilization had the knowledge about how to use the energy that resides in nature: Chakra. The things that they could do with Chakra! Oh you wouldn't believe it kid, they could scale mountain in but an instant. Appear and disappear as they willed. Tame monsters of nature itself! And so much more…

"But for all the good and wonders that they could do with Chakra, they could also inflict pain and terror with it. It was evident with the wars that happened amongst the people in that civilization. Small skirmishes were much common but sometimes, there would be great wars. Many lives were lost in those wars and children were orphaned.

"Eventually, a man who thought that the civilization wasn't worthy to handle a power of such scale raged a massive war by capturing great beasts of chakra. That was the final nail in the coffin for that civilization. Oh, don't misunderstand me, that man lost the war but at the cost of many many lives! A war hero then decided that the man had been right. We couldn't be trusted with this power and so he proceeded to erase the knowledge of chakra from every books and forbade adults from passing it onto their children. Some did pass on though, it was not as if he could control everybody. But eventually, all knowledge about the chakra was lost to mankind."

"So… what you do with that blue orb and the pale green light, it's chakra?" Harry asked.

Sensei smiled, "Yes indeed kid. That is my chakra. The light of life."

"But sensei, you said that people could appear and disappear with the use of chakra and do other incredible things… does that mean that what I used that time is also chakra?"

"I am afraid it is not. You see kid, what you have is much more special than chakra. I wouldn't know what it's real name is but people like you, and yes I have met them in my journey, call it **magic**. I think it's a fitting name but had they given me the choice to name it, I would have called it **will**."

"Magic, sensei? Really?"

"Yes. What you have is magic and what you are called… is a wizard! You are a wizard kid."

"I am a wizard?"

"Yes you are. In many ways, your powers are similar, if more refined, than Chakra. But in other ways, it's a lot more trickier than Chakra. To be quite honest, I don't really know about it so I can't help you with your Will. Sorry about that."

"No, it's okay sensei. I mean, you would have taught me if you knew wouldn't you?"

Sensei nodded.

"But you do know about Chakra don't you? Then you can teach me that!"

His Sensei smiled. "Yes, I know about Chakra kid. But are you sure that you want to learn it? I was under the impression that your current training was running you dry!"

Harry gulped, his training was indeed exhausting him too much but seeing the weird light on sensei's eyes that spoke that if he wouldn't say yes, he would get too much _motivation_ in his coming days was enough to bring the word out of his mouth.

"Of course I would, sensei!"

 _ **Flashback end**_

That was two years ago. Right now, Harry was running on top of the rooftops of Little Whinging towards his master's place. It was more of an alley than a place really but who was he to point it out?

With strengths in his legs, that he would have believed was impossible for a human, he took a great leap and dropped with style right in the middle of the alley. He stood there remaining, expecting a clap. Of course, none came. What did came was,

"Showoff"

"Sensei," Harry bowed before his sensei.

The old sensei merely nodded his head. The kid had come a long way since last two years at using the chakra. So much so, that he suspected that the boy was some sort of prodigy at it. It also helped that he was so desperate to please the Sensei that he just gave it all in his taijutsu training as well (however rigorous it might be).

"You continuing your exercises?" Sensei asked.

"Yes, sensei. Just like you said," Harry said.

"No problems at all? How many leaves was it?"

"Five leaves on my forehead," Harry replied with a little hint of pride on his voice.

"Five? Very good!" Sensei said and Harry beamed in return, "But if you have no problems with the exercises, why did you come?"

"It's…" Harry hesitated a bit but was encouraged by his sensei's expectant look, "Remember that you told me about my kind? Those who use magic?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, I got a letter this morning," Harry pulled out a small crumpled parchment and then showed it to his sensei.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_  
 _Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

 _Dear Mr Harry Potter,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on 1st September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Deputy Headmistress_

And the back of the letter listed the items that students were expected to bring with them to the school.

Looking up from the letter, Sensei said in a thoughtful voice, "This certainly solves your one problem. If this school can teach you to control your Will better, then you should certainly go there."

"But sensei, I don't wanna leave you! I have so much more to learn from you and you still haven't told me that story about the great nine tailed fox that you promised you would!" Harry complained.

"Hold on a second kid, I only told you that you should go, not that you should stop being my student. You will be here on your vacations won't you? Besides, I can always come and visit you," Sensei said kindly.

"So I should really go then?" Harry asked again.

"Yes, you should."

"But how am I supposed to go there? This letter says that they expect my owl… what's an owl? And where am I supposed to find all these stuffs like cauldron and wand? And these books? Plus I have no money at all!" Harry asked skeptically.

"As for your owl," Sensei looked up into the sky, "Perhaps you could use that guy. I think that he has been following you around."

Sensei pointed to the top of a nearby tree.

As if summoned, a tawny owl with two curious marks over his eyes, flew right on the wrists of Sensei from the top of the tree.

"You will deliver the kid's response, wouldn't you?" Sensei asked which Harry thought was a little stupid but promptly changed his mind when he saw the owl bob its head up and down.

"Now all you have to do is write a letter and just ask them where to buy the items on that letter," Sensei said.

Harry was once again flabbergasted. The last two years had been amazing, if a bit arduous, for him. His sensei was awesome and that was it. Any problem, no matter how big it looked, Harry was now confident that his sensei could solve it.

On Sensei's advice, he promptly wrote a letter with the pen and a letterpad from sensei (where did he even brought that from?) where he mentioned that he was willing to come to the school and that he didn't know where to buy the items. He addressed the letter to Minerva McGonagall, the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts and tied it to the owl's legs. The owl took off carrying the letter.

"That's settled then, now let's get you working. You said you sustained the leaves on your forehead right?"

Harry nodded.

"Now then, it's time to climb the building," Sensei said and before Harry could interrupt, followed by, "Without using your hands!"


	4. Harry Returns

It was only after three and a half months that Harry returned to Little Whinging. Hogwarts was simply amazing and he just couldn't wait to tell it all to his sensei. Well he did exchange letters with his sensei every week, courtesy of the tawny owl which Harry had used to send his reply to the acceptance letter and his sensei had named Lee due to the two curious marks above its eyes which looked like bushy eyebrows (Harry didn't quite understand what bushy eyebrows like mark had to do with the name). Merely exchanging letters and meeting his sensei face to face just wasn't the one and the same.

One thing that his sensei had constantly reminded him during their letter exchange was to always practice clearing his thoughts and lying absolutely still every five minutes before going to the bed. And also, if he got time, tree climbing or even water walking. He had made so much progress to that front that he was much excited to show it to his sensei.

Due to his keeping up with the exercises, he had a much better handle at his chakra now and thus, his speed right now was twice than ever! With a long jump, he flew down the alley and landed with a cat's gracefulness.

"You've improved," came the words in the voice of the person that Harry had missed the most.

"Sensei," he bowed before the old man who had emerged from nowhere.

"So, how was your school?" Sensei asked… and then Harry talked, and then talked and then talked some more.

Harry said all about how he had made two friends, Ron and Hermoine. Ron was from a wizarding family whereas Hermoine was a muggleborn, that's what they called a magical person who was born from non-magical ones. He told Sensei about how he had been the youngest quidditch seeker of all the century and how much fun it was to fly! He also talked about the subjects like Transfiguration and the professor who taught it, Minerva McGonagall that is, could turn into a cat! And how there were some plants which could kill you if you weren't careful with it and how much potions sucked and that the professor who taught it, Severus Snape, was a greasy git who hated Harry's guts.

Then there was the three headed dog that had almost bitten his head off and ghosts and also how he fought a mountain troll.

"Wait, you mean to say that you fought a club wielder and survived?"

"You know what they are, sensei?" Harry asked.

"Of course I do! I have travelled all over the world, kid and I've seen them all… horned horses, dragons, club wielders and even the three headed monstrosity that you talked about."

Harry wasn't really surprised, his teacher seemed to know almost anything that he talked about.

"Yeah, we did fight it," Harry replied meekly.

"Tell me kid," said his sensei in a voice different from his naturally kind one, "What have I instructed you to do when you encounter an enemy too powerful for you?"

"To run… fast," Harry replied.

"Exactly. You are to run, very very fast which I am sure you could do with your chakra enhanced physique if I remember the speed of a club wiedler. Those beings aren't the deadliest for they are way too slow and dumb but for a beginner like you, to engage them is to court death. So why didn't you run? After all, you avoided the three headed dog, didn't you?"

Harry looked visibly embarrased but his sensei was still waiting for his reply so he just simply had to confess,

"The troll had cornered Hermoine, I had to fight or it would have killed her!" He said in a weak protest.

Sensei simply sighed… he couldn't really scold the kid for saving someone's life.

"Very well, you did a noble thing. Do avoid to do such situations in future, alright?"

Harry nodded.

"Now tell me about this encounter," sensei asked.

"It was the most dangerous thing ever! Ron had been mean to Hermoine earlier and she was quite upset about it. At the feast in the evening, we noticed that she wasn't back and then professor Quirrel, he teaches us Defense Against the Dark Arts, came running into the hall and then shouted that there was a troll in the dungeon and then fainted.

"Professor Dumbledore, our headmaster, instructed us to go to our dormitories and the students began to move but then we realised that Hermoine wasn't amongst us. A couple of girls were talking about how she has been crying at the bathroom. She didn't know about the troll so we had to inform her.

"When we reached the bathroom, we saw the troll moving inside it so we locked the bathroom but then we heard Hermoine screaming inside there! We ran as fast as we could, so I was a lot earlier in the room and Ron was just left behind. He did come within the minute though so there's that. Anyway, when I stepped inside the bathroom, the troll was about to smash Hermoine with its club. I kinda moved automatically and jumped at it and kneed it in the face! I swear sensei, it was the largest amount of chakra that I had ever drawn but it did the work and the troll promptly lost it's consciousness.

"Ron came a while later and was quite relieved to find the troll lying on the ground. Professors came inside the room a while later and were surprised too. Professor McGonagall asked me just how did I beat a mountain troll. I said that I simply kneed it on its face but I think she didn't quite believe me. She gave Ron and I twenty points for thinking about my friends in time of distress but also took fifty points off for running off on our own. Our housemates weren't too happy about that."

"You handled that quite… expertly. Apparently, my fear of the club weilder being too strong for you was unfounded. How much chakra did you use really?" asked Sensei incredulously.

A club weilder was insane strong. How could the kid even beat that creature with a simple kick? Well, not exactly a simple kick but even for a chakra enhanced physique it should have taken at least another year worth of training before the kid's story made sense.

"More than I have ever, sensei! It felt incredible, as if I were crazy strong!" Harry said while bouncing on his spot.

"Very well, you are safe and sound and that is what matters. Now then, let's get to training, shall we?" asked sensei.

Harry beamed positively, "Are we finally going to start jutsus sensei? Will you teach me the Rasengan? Or the Shunshin!? Is it true that you can truly appear and disappear at will with Shunshin?" Harry asked.

"No kid. Shunshin is just a super fast movement and that's it and no, I am not teaching you the Rasengan. Oh don't give me that look, I will be teaching you a jutsu after all, just not the Rasengan."

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Is it the Fireball jutsu that you talked about or the great earth wall! Or wind blade!"

"Whoa kid, hold your horses, you are too small for elemental jutsus. No, we will be starting with something small but waaay too important."

Sensei then did a hand seal and then promptly changed into a carbon copy of… Harry Potter!

"The copycat jutsu!" Harry replied in awe!

"Yes," spoke the sensei-harry, "This justu is one of the most elementary one but many people underestimate just how important it really is. You have got, what two weeks?"

Harry nodded.

"I think that it would be enough time to teach you this technique. Have you memorized the seal diagrams that I gave you?" Sensei asked.

Harry nodded his head again.

"Good! So the hand-seals for this jutsu is, Dog-Boar-Ram. You think about the image of the person that you wish to change to. Remember that thought clearing exercise I taught you? That technique helps in visualization."

With his sensei's instruction, Harry did the hand seals Dog-Boar-Ram and channel his chakra as the seals dictated all the while thinking about Ron. With a loud puff, he changed into a red-headed weasley that we all love to hate.

"Bloody hell!" Harry exclaimed out loud. That was a weird feeling that he went through. It appeared as if somebody forced a new cloth on top of his old one.

His sensei procured a mirror from nowhere (seriously, how does he do that?). Harry looked at the mirror and jumped in surprise. Standing there, in all his glory was Ronald Weasley; Chudley Cannons' fan extraordinaire!

"Sensei! This is amazing!" Harry said in Ron's voice.

"Yes… Yes, it does," Sensei said with speculative tone.

"Does that mean I mastered the jutsu? Can we move to the fireballs now?" Harry asked with a little cheek.

His sensei smiled at him (which surely couldn't mean anything good?), "No my disciple. What this means is that you will walk all around the Little Whinging in your friend's Ron body and memorize every face that you encounter and then you will come here at evening and then change into those persons."

Harry gulped. It appeared that he was going to get a lot of _motivations_ over his holidays. He pitied his bum.

Over the course of his holiday, Harry did as his sensei had asked. He transformed as Ron and ran all over the neighborhood while doing his hardest to memorize every face that he came across. At evening, he would meet up with his sensei and then go through the faces one by one and transform into them. His sensei would correct his discrepancies ("your hair is too light", "she is left-handed, not right!", "She doesn't wear that clothes"). It begged the question that just how did his sensei even know about all of these people but then Harry reminded himself that it was his sensei that he was talking about and suddenly it didn't seem so impossible at all.

On Christmas, his sensei gave him a scroll, inside which there was a special variation of the transformation technique that one could use to change into inanimate objects. Harry didn't think that it was terribly interesting. After all, what could be more interesting? Changing into people vs changing into stone? Duh! But he would be sure to memorize the contents of the scroll though, lest his sensei decide to quiz him and hand out his _motivations_ afterwards.

Also, he had received a special package on top of his other holiday presents. A cloak, specifically, that apparently belonged to his father and the giver wanted him to use it wisely. Harry promptly put on the cloak and a secure feeling washed over him. As if no one could ever find him under it. He didn't really think much about it until he looked at himself on the mirror. He ended up giving a loud yelp because what he found there was his head, floating!

Fortunately for him, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were busy handing gifts to Dudley and couldn't hear him or they would have got the shock of their lives. Anyawys, after calming down significantly, he realised that it was not his head that was floating, rather, it was the rest of his body that was invisible. Sure enough, once he wore the cloak over his head, he completely disappeared from the mirror! He just simply had to show this to his sensei! With this thought in his mind, he approached the window, looked left and right, and then jumped right out of it and then ran towards the alley where his sensei would be.

When he stepped inside the alley, still wearing the cloak on his body, he was startled by a presence behind him.

"Curious," said his sensei.

Harry took his clothes off and became visible again.

"How did you know it was me sensei?" Harry asked.

"Your footsteps are too loud, something that I want you to remedy. Always remember kid, eyes are not the only organs that you have. And while this cloak also somehow hides your smell, most fascinating really, it is nigh impossible to hide from me."

Harry believed it, of course, there was no way a cloak could fool his sensei.

"Did you get my present?" Harry asked his sensei.

"Yes, Lee brought it to me," (Lee was the owl) his sensei replied.

"Did you like it?" Harry asked with anticipation. He had debated much with himself on what he should give to his sensei. With what he knew by now, despite his sensei looking like a hobo, he wasn't exactly one. And while Harry didn't know what he really was, he certainly knew that his sensei didn't want any part of his new-found fortune. Thus, Harry had settled with giving him Chocolate-frogs and some botty bott's every flavor sweets.

"I quite liked it. Thanks, kid," his sensei said with smile. A smile that was reflected ten times on Harry's face.


	5. Confrontation

For all his honesty towards his sensei, Harry hadn't told him certain incidents from his school. Like how he had been attacked by a strange being while he served his detention at the forbidden forest or how his broom had been attacked by an unknown person who Harry was pretty sure was Snape.

It was not as if he wanted to avoid worrying his sensei, for he was certain that nothing could worry his sensei at all! It was just that he wanted to solve the problem on his own… which, now that he was literally crossing a wall of fire in pursuit of Snape to stop him from procuring the Philosopher's Stone, seemed like a bad idea. Perhaps he should have told his sensei after all? He might have provided Harry with some advice like how not to chase after a suspicious Professor all on your own.

Of course, this all was irrelevant now that he was standing face to face with Professor Quirrel of all people!

("Yes, it's me, Quirrel. P-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell!")

What followed next was an enlightening conversation about how it hadn't been Snape who had tried to kill him. Rather, it had been Quirrel the whole time! Which made a lot of sense in retrospect. Although, Harry found it hard to believe that Snape was actually trying to save him.

"Doesn't matter, you would never succeed! We sent message for Dumbledore and he will be arriving here at any moment!" Harry exclaimed, trying to stall.

"Oh you think Dumbledore would be able to save you, Potter? Save you from the greatest wizard of all time!?"

"You are not even barely competent, much less the greatest wizard of all time," Harry scoffed.

Considering that he was bound with a magical rope conjured by Quirrel, maybe that wasn't the best of things to say. But hey, it was not like Harry had the _Guide to appropriate words to be said while you are bound in front of a wizard who wants to kill you, Volume II,_ with him (it was crazy expensive).

"Oh I am not talking about myself Potter! I am tal-"

" _The boy is ssstalling! Quick, find the stone quick!_ _"_ A strange hiss that chilled Harry to the bone came from the back of Quirrel's head.

Quirrel turned pale after the voice had spoke and promptly left Harry to go and stand in front of the stone.

"I see the stone, master. I have the stone with me and I am presenting it to you! But how do I extract it!"

Quirrel muttered.

" _The boy_ _… Use the boy!"_ The voice hissed again.

Quirrell reached to Harry who backed up. Harry wasn't afraid of Quirrel at all! But the voice. It was a different story. Never had Harry heard such miserable and terrible voice at once. Thus, fear came very easily to him once Quirrel, who somehow was also the source of the voice, approached him.

But Harry was bound in ropes and couldn't escape. Quirrel dragged him not so gently and made him stand in front of the strange mirror.

When Harry looked at the mirror in front, he forgot everything. Quirrel, the stone, three headed dogs, Ron's injury, Dumbledore's absence… just about everything. Because, right there in front of him, in the mirror, were his two parents waving at him. Also there was him, or a version of himself anyhow, in the middle of the two of them, waving back at him cheerily. The mirror also had a old man in the background who Harry immediately identified as his sensei.

Harry nearly lost himself in the mirror but a harsh awakening by Quirrel abruptly broke off his reverie.

"The stone boy, where is the stone!" Quirrel asked.

Harry was about to answer " _I don_ _'t have it!"_ when the mirror version of him procured a stone from his pocket and dropped it off back with a wink. Suddenly, Harry felt the weight of the stone on his own pockets and then he just knew that he had now The Philosopher's stone with him.

"I don't have it," the words came out of his mouth but they weren't convincing. Harry desperately hoped that Quirrel would buy it but all of his hopes were squashed when that voice hissed again,

" _The boy lies! He lies! Let me speak to him, face to face!_ _"_

"Master, you aren't strong enough," Quirrel said.

" _Let me out, I have strength enought for this!_ _" the voice hissed back._

Quirrel then undid his turban and turned around. Harry saw the back of the Quirrel's head. Well, it wasn't really the back of Quirrel's head, rather, it was a face. A very grotesque face which looked right mad at him.

It was as if a thousand tons of weight rooted him to the spot. The rope that had previously bound him had been undone, for some reasons, and yet Harry couldn't find strength in himself to move from there. Had he not been so afraid, he would have undoubtedly thought of running out of the room but alas, that was the very last thought on the back of his mind at that moment.

"Harry Potter… see what I've become. See what you did to me. I, the mightiest wizard of this era, reduced to a ghost, a vapor! But it shall change Potter. I shall have the stone again and I shall rise again. Now boy, give me the stone that's in your pocket!"

 _How did he know!?_ Thought Harry desperately.

But it didn't really matter. Voldemort knew… and he was advancing on him. A terrible pain shot across Harry's scar as Voldemort approached him. That pain finally brought Harry out from his fear and shock and cleared his mind, relatively.

Only now did Harry notice that the rope binding him was gone and in a move that was more instinctual than planned, he drew Chakra from his body and sprang back, five times anybody his age could do.

Voldemort stopped for a bitand regarded him curiously.

"You have some abilities after all Potter. I didn't know you were familiar with the body enhancing rituals. My oh my, what would Dumbledore say!" Voldemort mocked him.

A sharp cry came from Quirrel (for Harry recognized his voice) and to Harry's horror, Voldemort pranced upon him in just a single move.

"See potter? You are not the only one who did these rituals. Although, I shall have to admit that it wasn't until my fourth year that I dabbled on these things. I had to sacrifice a virgin muggle girl; poor girl fell to my charm you see. I didn't even have to imperius her. Enough about this though, tell me Potter, who did you sacrifice?"

Harry, instead of replying, shot out of the room through the entrance that was, fortunately, no longer being blocked by the raging purple flames. Chakra circulating wildly over his body, he was moving as fast as was possible! However, Voldemort was still on his tail with speed equal to his.

By now, Harry had already reached to the room of the hidden keys. It was extreme luck on his part that all traps between the rooms had been disabled. Whether it was due to the Philosopher's stone being acquired by him or something else, Harry was extremely thankful to that. He just didn't have enough energy to deal with Voldemort and the traps at the same time.

After he had reached the room of the hidden keys, he had a brilliant flash of inspiration.

 _Dog-Boar-Ram-Dragon_

He performed the series of the hand signs and a moment later, instead of Harry Potter, a new broom appeared besides the other brooms.

This was precisely the variation of the copycat jutsu — the inanimate copycat jutsu — that Harry had learned in order to impress his Sensei on the holidays.

Not even a second after his transformation, a blur shot out of the door. It was Voldemort. Thankfully, Voldemort didn't linger on the room once he saw that there was nothing here except for charmed flying keys and some old brooms. He moved forward to the room with the Devil Snare.

Harry, who had taken the form of a broom, took a breath of relief. Voldemort was gone. Hopefully he would now run out of the room chasing a non-existent Harry and that would be the end of it. Alas, that was not the end of it.

Just when Harry was contemplating whether to revert back to his original form or to maintain his form a while longer, a loud and clear sound reverberated around the room.

" _Homenum Revelio_ _"_

Harry was enveloped in a feeling as if someone had discovered him. Another sound followed after that sensation.

" _Reducto_ _"_

A jet of menacing blue flied towards him with alarming speed. Had it not been for Harry's enhanced reflexes, he wouldn't have been able to transform back into his form and leap out of the spell's way in time. However, that hasty motion cost him precious few moments in which another spell — this he knew about — connected with him.

" _Petrificus Totalus_ _"_

Harry found himself immobilized facing a very angry and irritated Voldemort in front of him.

"Did you think you could fool me boy? Me, the greatest wizard of all time!" Voldemort spat.

Harry couldn't reply. Partly because he was immobilized and partly because a blinding pain was building up on his scar with each step that Voldemort took towards him.

"Now, let's take the stone out, shall we," Voldemort said.

He moved his hands towards Harry pockets and in the process, brushed up against his hands. A sharp pain erupted on his scar and Harry grunted in pain. However, a sharper pain erupted in front of him by Voldemort himself. He was crying out in pain while sporting a severely burnt hand. Precisely that portion that had brushed Harry.

"Not only have you done body enhancing rituals but also the ritual of protection!? Tell me Potter, who did you sacrifice for these dark rituals!? Does Dumbledore knows what his precious boy has done!?" said Voldemort in a curious tone.

For a moment, Voldemort looked somewhat expectantly. Only after a while did he realise.

"Oh," he lazily flicked his wand at Harry who now found that he could talk.

"So? Tell me Potter, don't keep Lord Voldemort waiting. Whom did you sacrifice?" said Voldemort.

"I didn't sacrifice anyone!" Harry snarled at him. The mere thought of him killing someone was extremely repulsive.

"You are telling the truth," said Voldemort, even more fascinated, "The stone can wait, Potter. For now, I must know how you enhanced your body. _Legli-_ "

It appeared as if Voldemort was attempting a spell on him but he didn't complete it because right then, a bright red beam of light shot up to him and he had to dodge it in haste.

" _Dumbledore!_ _"_ Voldemort hissed.

"Tom, I daresay the times haven't been good to you," said Dumbledore.

Despite of the old wizard's calm tone, Harry could sense something very powerful bubbling inside him. In that moment, Harry saw a measure of similarity between his sensei and his headmaster and that rose his opinion about his headmaster even more.

" _Avada Kedavra!_ _"_ the voice hissed at Dumbledore and a sickly green jet of light — accompanied by a pitiful cry of Quirrell — shot from Voldemort's wand and travelled up to Dumbledore.

An animated lion of marble came up from nowhere and took the spell.

"Sieze this foolishness at once Tom," Dumbledore said in that same calm tone, "Can you not see you are leeching Quirinus dry?"

Voldemort laughed, "I do not care for this incompetent fool's life."

"Very well… but how long do you think that you can last against me? Or do you perhaps think that you can somehow win against me while you are in this inhuman existence of yours? You should know better than that Tom."

Voldemort smirked.

"Loathe though I am to admit, I know that I can't kill you right now Dumbledore. However, it is not you that I want to!"

Voldemort turned sharply towards Harry and flung five powerful curses at him, each more dangerous looking than the other.

Before Harry could jump to avoid the incoming curses, a red dome enveloped him instantly and absorbed all the curses.

A miserable cry the likes of which Harry had never heard rang out in the room and then silence reigned.

"Are you alright Harry?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

"Yes, sir, what happened to Voldemort?" asked Harry.

"I am afraid my boy that he has fled in the confusion. That attack on you was rather clever on his part. But of course, Voldemort has never been accussed of foolishness. Insanity perhaps, yes, but not foolishness."

Harry then looked to the body of his Defense professor and couldn't help but ask.

"And what happens to Proffessor Quirrel now sir? He was possessed, I think. So it was not his fault."

Dumbledore beamed at him kindly.

"That is kind of you my dear boy to have forgiven Quirinus so quickly. Alas, I must inform you that it was Quirinus' own fault. He knowingly allowed Voldemort access to his body and that way put not only you, but the entire student in Hogwarts at danger.

"Having said that, Voldemort is known to bewitch the wisest of men so I don't think we should judge Quirinus so harshly. Not when he repaid his mistake with his life."

Harry was wide-eyed.

"Does that mean…" he said.

"Yes, Harry. Proffessor Quirrell is dead. When Voldemort left his body, he made it perpetually uninhabitable to any other soul. A tragedy, Quirinus was a naive child but he didn't deserve it."

Harry would've said something but Dumbledore didn't let him.

"We shouldn't remain here Harry. Your friends Miss Granger and Mr. Weaseley are already in the hospital wing. Come now, let us go. Before that though, I understand that you have a certain stone in your possession?"

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling intensely at Harry. He felt quite embarrassed at not giving the stone to the headmaster earlier. He went to his pocket and took the stone out and sheepishly handed over the stone to Dumbledore.

"Excellent. Now, let's be off…"

Harry made to walk but Dumbledore gripped him gently. He was about to ask why but the world around him turned as if it were dancing a drunken dance and he found himself dropped to the ground clutching his stomach in a vain attempt to hold his dinner inside.

"Pardon me Harry… the first apparition is always difficult."

With those words, Dumbledore left him there in the not so tender care of Madam Pompfrey. She fussed over him for an excessive length of time ("Seriously, Madame Pompfrey! I am fine!") after which he was left alone with the stern order to sleep. Seeing as he had nothing to do and no one to talk to (as Ron and Hermoine were already asleep in the beds next to his) he shut his eyes thinking of just how he was going to tell this to his sensei.


	6. Opinion

Hello everyone,

The Ninjutsu kid is just a story that came into my mind one evening. I hope that you liked it. Now, if you really liked it, then don't be afraid. I have not abandoned it yet. However, I would like to know just how many people want me to continue this story before going on with it. I only wish to continue it if people like it and think that this plot bunny might just work.

Regards,

Author.


	7. (Mis)Adventures with Clone jutsu

_Hello everyone!_

 _I read the reviews all of you posted and I can't tell how delighted I am to get so much support from you all. I have decided to continue writing this story. However, since the start this story was meant to be somewhat smallish (50-60K). But it seems the length will now have to increase. Anyways, for now the usual chapter lengths will be short so please don't kill me. I'll try to increase the length and maintain a release schedule. I would also love to hear your opinions so keep on reviewing to let me know!_

* * *

As it so happened, his sensei didn't take the word of his near death so well. He fussed about him for an hour and then some more about his school. After Harry repeatedly convinced him that he was fine and that headmaster arrived "just in time" to save him, his sensei finally let the matter drop. However, there was an odd calculating look on his face which, Harry thought, was certainly not a herald of something good.

And he was proven right. Not only did his sensei became more demanding of him, he in-fact doubled his workload. The physical exercises were excruciating but what troubled Harry the most was that the mental exercises that his sensei had wanted him to do before going to bed was now required of him multiple times in a day ("Sensei! I can't concetrate that long!"). In addition, his sensei had developed a nasty habit of attacking out of nowhere during his exercise so he had to constantly be aware of his surrounding at all times. This was not only getting on his nerves but was making him extremely jumpy around sudden things.

Meanwhile, none of his friends had written to him in the summer at all! They didn't even reply the letters that he had sent with the help of Lee, the owl. Had Harry not been busy with his exercises, he would have been miserable. Not that he wasn't sad (he felt almost betrayed like that time when no one came to his birthday party) but like his master often used to say, "If you have energy left to complain, you have energy left to train". So train he did. To Harry's surprise, the excruciating exercises began filling him with a sense of contentment and the mental exercises slowly stopped being boring and started being refreshing. He didn't really register just how the change came to be but he had recently stopped begging his sensei to stop killing him. That was certainly a progress.

One fine morning in August, his sensei sat him down.

"You've improved in the recent weeks kid. I am thinking of rewarding you."

Harry broke into a _huge_ grin. He always felt the best when his sensei praised him.

"Now, tell me. Did you do what I asked?"

"Yes, sensei! I stared at the mirror looong and hard every morning and tried to memorize every detail of how I look."

Sensei nodded.

"Listen kid, this next jutsu that I will teach you, is called clone jutsu. It won't do much except for making a lifelike entity that you can use to distract your opponents. But if used wisely, you can use it to escape from any immediate threats.

"Now, the hand signs for this jutsu is Ram-Snake-Tiger. You visualize your clone and execute these seals. Here, have a look."

His sensei proceeded to perform the jutsu. The hand signs he used were done slowly so that Harry could take a good look at it. At the end of the signs, chakra flared from his sensei's body and coalesced into a new copy of his sensei, down to the t's and i's.

"See this?" His sensei ran a hand through the clone. Miraculously, it passed through without any obstruction.

"The clone that the jutsu produces is ethereal. In fact, most people argued back in the day that this jutsu should belong to the category of Genjutsu i.e. illusions. Personally, I don't care. It is easy and it is useful and that's it. However, don't think that this gives you any huge number advantages alright?"

Harry nodded diligently.

"Your turn then."

He proceeded to perform the hand signs that his sensei had drilled into him. There were only three signs and they were easy enough. At the end of the jutsu, a chakra entity formed beside him and promptly collapsed to the ground. The clone, unlike his sensei, was malformed. It disappeared soon afterwards with a puff of smoke.

His sensei looked at him, as if asking for something. Harry understood soon enough,

"I'll work hard to master this jutsu before school begins, sensei!" he proclaimed enthusiastically.

Sensei, however, smiled.

"No, my disciple. You'll work harder to master this jutsu within this week!"

Harry felt an impending sense of doom upon him. The vacation had just gotten quite stressful.

* * *

Harry dropped unceremoniousy onto his bed. To say that the last week had been exhausting for him would be analogous to saying that his sensei was strict i.e. a massive understatement. His sensei was insanely strict! A slavedriver even! Over the week, Harry's workload had almost doubled and he wondered if he'd really begun to enjoy the exercises. He certainly was not enjoying it now, no sir. The running, pushups, tree climbings swimming, jumping and whatnots coupled with the interspersed meditation sessions (at least he got to rest somewhat) was beginning to take a toll on him. And all this for what? To produce a stupid clone that wouldn't form no matter what Harry did.

His sensei kept on saying that he had used large amount of chakra and that it was not the proper way. But for some inexplicable reason, Harry just couldn't seem to be able to control his chakra.

 _I need to take a break!_ Harry thought to himself. And as it happens in stories like these, right at that moment he heard a peculiar noise. It was of a car engine revving up. It wouldn't have been so strange had it not been coming from right outside of his window — on the first floor!

All tiredness forgotten, Harry shot out of his bed and opened up his window to see the most marvelous sight ever. His friend Ron had arrived on a _flying_ car with his brothers Fred and George.

"Harry! We were worried that you were not getting our letters!" Ron said from inside the car.

Harry was surprised, "You mean, you wrote me letters!?"

"Of course I did! And Hermione too. We thought that the muggles weren't giving your letters to you!" Ron protested.

"Well, my aunt and uncle usually leave me alone. They don't like too many owls, though." Harry said.

"That's strange," Ron muttered.

"It's not that we don't want to let you catch up brother dearest," Fred said.

"But we don't want to linger here too long. Wouldn't want the neighbors spotting us," George completed.

"Oh, can't you park the car on the driveway? My Uncle and Aunt are not home, so you can spend a while here," Harry said cheerfully.

Fred and George argued that they didn't wish to stay lest their mother found out that they had whisked the car away but Ron wanted to spend some time with Harry so the duo ultimately relented.

Once inside, Ron piped up,

"Whoa, this house looks so clean! Ours is too disordered, but I like it that way."

"Yeah, Aunt Petunia freaks out if things are out of their place. So… flying car huh?" Harry asked.

Ron gave a huge grin, "My dad made it. It's actually illegal but dad reckons it won't be a problem as long as nobody found out. And don't tell them but Fred and George are excellent drivers."

Just then, the duo descended from Harry's room.

"Don't tell us what little brother?" said Fred

"Wait, don't answer that, this comes first," said George.

"Harrykins, why did we find," "An unconscious House elf under your bed?"

"An unconscious what?" Harry asked.

"House elves? Short little buggers,"

"Ugly as a gnome"

"Big green eyes!"

"Bat-like ears?"

Harry looked back and forth as Fred and George took turns explaining him. Realization dawned upon him suddenly.

"Ohh… you mean that little guy? He appeared one day at my side without a warning. I panicked and kicked him, a little too hard I guess. He promptly fainted there. I don't think he is right in the head though. I mean, he keeps appearing around me all of a sudden and I just keep hitting him by instict. I am starting to wonder if he likes being kicked."

"Strange fellows, house elves," Fred shrugged.

"Yeah, you should see them in Hogwarts' kitchen. They are a little too eager to please," George nodded sagely.

"Mum wants a house-elf though. She constantly complains about the workload," Ron supplied.

"Speaking of mum,"

"We are late!"

"Oh," Ron said, "I don't know if you want to Harry, but you can come to our house if the muggles do not mind."

Behind Ron's statement was a thinly veiled optimism. Harry considered for a bit. His uncle and aunt didn't really mind what he did as they largely ignored him anyways. Besides, he did desperately need a break and his sensei would undoubtedly understand. Thus, he replied.

"I would love to!"

* * *

As bizarre as Harry had thought the magical world to be, the burrow belittled all of his expectations. The house standing on ground itself was a miracle. Inside were many things that simply boggled Harry's little mind. Ron and co were not being super helpful about explaining stuffs. For example, one time Harry asked just how the clock on the wall knew whether Mr. Weasley was in office or travelling, Ron gave him a weird look before replying, "Magic."

That was it really. The dishes did themselves by magic, the stuffs on ground moved to make way for them by magic and the inside of the house was doubly large by magic. It truly was a magical house.

The Weasleys were a fun bunch to hangout with though. Harry especially loved the little Quidditch sessions with the weasley household. It really amused him to see Fred and George so apalled with his throwing skills. They seemed to think that he was using magic to shoot the balls because no way in hell could a kid his size throw a Quaffle like that. Harry didn't bother saying that he wasn't really trying too hard.

So amazing was his time on the Burrow that Harry had forgotten about his practice of the clone jutsu. He did do his regular exercises (Mrs Weasley seemed to think of it as a weird muggle thing) and also his meditations at night but that was it. Harry justified himself as taking a break from all that streneous activities but he just couldn't stop a little nagging sensation on the bottom of his stomach.

The elf kept on appearing around his vicinity and unfortunately kept on getting beaten by Harry (who felt terrible afterwards). Curiously, it never did appear when anybody else was around and whenever Harry tried to fetch Mrs. Weasley to treat the unconscious elf, it would miraculously disappear on its own. This had made Harry very upset. He just couldn't understand why the elf would not stop appearing in his immediate surrounding already! Regardless, Harry was now trying hard control his impulses of beating things that unexpectedly popped up around him. He wasn't getting that much success though.

Eventually, it was time to go to Hogwarts again. Their school list had arrived and Harry had tagged along with the weasleys to go for shopping. It turned out to be disastrous as Harry mispronounced the name "Diagon Alley" and somehow ended up turning up at Knockturn Alley in a shady potions shop. He got out of there before the owner could spot him (thankfully). An old and ugly woman — who he later learned was a Hag — freaked him out and Harry ended up punching her by instinct alone (seriously, when would people learn not to startle him!). The Hag flew quite a distance before crashing on the walls. People were beginning to gather around him but thankfully, Hagrid came at his rescue at the right time.

The shopping went well except for a little incident with a pompous looking man who Harry learned was Malfoy's father. Harry also learned that another pompous looking man, Professor Lockhart, was to teach his class Defense Against the Dark Arts. He personally thought that the man was a huge improvement over Professor Quirrel but dispelled that notion quickly as Professor Lockhart forcibly dragged him in front of the crowd to take pictures.

Despite that, the day ended quite well and so did his vacation with the Weasleys.


	8. Chapter of Secrets

To say that the start of the school was disastrous was to put it mildly. First of all, Harry and Ron both mysteriously found themselves locked out from platform 9 & 3/4. Due to the fear that they would miss the year, the two of them then decided to take Mr. Weasley's flying car to the school which again turned out to be a fiasco because Ron wasn't particularly an adept driver. A damaged Whomping Whillow (and their shattered start-of-the-term excitement) later, they found themselves the recepient of a very nasty Howler from Ron's mother. It bothered Harry a little that he had equally taken part in the misadventures with Mr. Weasley's car yet was never blamed by Mrs. Weasley (poor Ron). This incident set the mood for the time to come.

Soon, Harry began hearing a sinister voice in the school. What made it more creepy was that Harry just couldn't figure out whence the sound came from. On Halloween day, when they were somehow roped into going to Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party, Harry followed the voice to the third corridor where Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris was hanging upside down on the wall. Somebody had apparently petrified the cat and written **_"Enemies of the heir beware, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened"_ ** on the wall. Harry had at first thought it to be a tasteless joke but seeing the miserable expression of the caretaker Filch as well as the grave look on Professor McGonagall, he soon understood that the situation was serious. Things would have been totally downbeat had he not had the chance to witness a Phoenix combusting. To be honest though, he was pretty scared at the moment. Only after Professor Dumbledore explained that he had not actually killed the Phoenix unwittingly, did he relax.

Yes, much had happened in Harry's second year but at this moment, none of that mattered. It was because he was in a totally new and unpredictable sort of trouble at the moment. Quidditch trouble. One could argue that playing an incredibly rough game in the air that involved two dangerous cannon-like balls capable of shattering one's bones as easily as if they were glasses was trouble to begin with. But it wouldn't be Quidditch if there weren't some mild hiccups along the way. At least that's what Harry replied to placate Hermione at times.

Technically, it shouldn't have been this way. Harry was a seeker and was ideally only supposed to be targeted by the bludgers whenever he went for the golden snitch. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell that bit to the two bludgers. They had been mercilessly chasing him in air for a long time and no matter what he did to loose them (or Fred and George for that matter), the bludgers would always return on his tail.

It was the testament to Harry's cool and talent that despite being on such a tight spot, he managed to not only spot, but also catch the snitch from right under the nose of Malfoy. And it was the testament to his age that he lost himself momentarily in the exuberance of victory and ended up being whacked by the bludger and displaced from his broom.

"""Harry!"""

Many people cried out at once as Harry dropped from more than twenty feet. Minerva McGonagall hastily pulled out her wand and cast a levitation spell which was unsuccessful as she was unceremoneously disrupted by the students fidgeting on her sides. Similar was the case with Professor Snape. Wide eyed, he only saw as Harry fell in slow motion, twisting and turning in the air (very much like a cat) to gracefully land on all fours on the ground!

The mouth of the entire populace went "O" at the incredible display of an accidental magic by Harry (for what else could it be?) All of them, Slytherins included, cheered for him after the awe passed.

Harry didn't lose himself this time though. He was acutely aware of a rogue bludger making its way straight for him. However, he was prepared for it. Just as the bludger came within his reach, he pulled his legs and kicked the bludger with extreme prejudice. Cracks appeared in the bludger as it was unceremoniously tossed away to Merlin knows where.

Harry didn't rest, however. He immediately prepared to kick another bludger (that was coming at him with much more meance) in similar fashion. But just as he was about to send the bludger to the moon with his chakra enhanced legs, an angry jet of red magic shattered the bludger into very fine pieces. Harry would have been elated with that outcome, had he not been face to face with a practically burning (with rage) Minerva McGonagall.

* * *

"Harry Potter!" a very very livid McGonagall shrieked at him, "Never! Never in so many years! A rogue bludger! You could've been killed! What foolishness, kicking it! Kicking it!"

"Err… sorry Professor," Harry said sheepishly.

"You silly boy," said a different voice icily (one which Harry hated with a passion), "That thing is charmed to break a player's bones through his guards and not only did you not avoid it, but engaged it instead? Has fame finally inflated that ignorant head of yours Potter?"

"With all due respect, Professor, had your head not been stuck up somewhere unpleasant, you would have seen the result of that… engagement." Harry replied back sharply.

"Why you ungrateful little—"

"Severus," said McGonagall, "I think we all can agree that Mr. Potter has gone through a stressful ordeal. He requires an immediate medical assistance."

Just then someone who had easily established himself on the second spot of Harry's most-hated-professors list entered into the fray.

"I agree with you Professor McGonagall," Lockhart said cheerily as he arrived on the ground.

"Pardon me.. Excuse me.. Professor coming through!" Lockhard said as he struggled through the crowd.

"Oh my, that arm looks swollen!" he exclaimed a bit too soon as he took an unconvincing look at Harry's arm.

"Professor, it's only a bruise. It'll heal on its own!" Harry said, trying desperately to avoid an upleasant event that he was sure was coming.

"Oh you silly boy, you don't need to be brave with your Professors! Why, once when I was hunting werewolves, I broke both of my arms. Had I not had an excellent repertoire of medical spells, I would have been in a lot of trouble!"

"But Professor!" Hermione asked, "How could you do spells if both of your hands were broken?"

"Details, Ms Granger," Lockhart replied, "Anyway, you're in safe hands, Harry. Now hold still as I patch this up!"

Lockhart then swished and flicked his wand. A sick purple jet of magic emerged from its tip as it made its way towards Harry's arm. Driven purely by instinct, Harry sharply pulled back his arms. Soon afterwards, A *thud* was heard as Professor Snape fell to the ground unceremoniously!

"Gilderoy you fool! That's a bone vanishing spell!" Snape said with barely contained fury, clutching his right leg which now was flopping uselessly on the ground.

"Err… yes, yes of course! This spell would've completely healed Mr. Potter's damaged bones! Unfortunate that Mr. Potter freaked out, really. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and grade some papers. I'm sure that Minnie would take care of you, Severus."

Ignoring a nasty look on McGonagall's face (for no one called her Minnie!), Lockhart quickly vanished from the crowd.

"Mr. Potter, go and see Madam Pompfrey immediately and have her heal your arm. Oh, and also tell her to prepare the Skelegrow potion, I assume that Professor Snape would be in need of one," McGonagall said to Harry.

Harry nodded quickly and immediately left the ground and ran back to the castle with Ron and Hermione! Once they were sufficiently out of sight of Professor McGonagall, they stopped. And they laughed like crazy! The entire event was unbelievable. Snape, on the ground, and that too due to Lockhart! The whole schools would be buzzing with this over the next month! After a considerable time, the trio stopped laughing and made their way, giggling along the way, to the medical wing.

* * *

Contrary to what Ron, Harry and Hermione had predicted, the rumor mill did not speak of that incident with Lockhart vanishing Snape's bone in the Quidditch pitch because of a much more shocking news. Colin Creevy, a Gryffindor, and arguably the biggest fan of Harry, was found petrified in the stairs. This single incident was enough to dampen the mood of the entire school but what caused them to be even more fearful was the completely unexpected reveal that Harry Potter was a Parselmouth.

It all happened at the Duelling club, which Lockhart (curse him) established jointly with Snape (curse him too) in response to the attack to Colin. Things were going fine with Harry and Co playfully shooting red expelliarmus beams at each other and having fun overall when Lockhart (seriously, curse him!) unceremoniously dragged Harry to the duelling platform and Snape (need I even say?) pitted Malfoy against him. Malfoy very quickly used the _Serpentsonia_ spell to conjure a snake! In hindsight, it was pretty stupid of Harry to think that the professors would have allowed the snake to actually bite Justin but still, Harry could not not do something. He somehow called off the snake from Justin and unfortunately he managed to instantly alienate the entire school!

As the rumor of him being the heir of Slytherin spread like wildfire, no one save for his Gryffindors friend would even talk to him, at least until the attack on Nearly Headless Nick and Justin Finch-Fletchely happened. Now, he was complete isolated. The Hufflepuffs ran like crazy whenever they saw him as if Harry were Vol.. I mean, he-who-must-not-be-named himself, the Slytherins derided him as usual, some even went so far as to bow in front of him proclaiming him their lord and master. It would have been pretty cool if they didn't immediately laugh afterwards. The Ravenclaws were cold and the majority of Gryffindors awkward towards him. If it weren't for Ron and Hermione, he really would have been miserable.

It became apparent to Harry that he really needed to dispell the rumor once and for all. And what better way than to reveal the actual heir of Slytherin in front of the whole school? The trio were pretty convinced that Malfoy really was the heir for who else could be so evil in Hogwarts? Surely not Snape? The problem of just how to prove their hypothesis was solved by the brilliant Hermione when she mentioned that a potion by the name of Polyjuice potion, can be used to mimic the appearance of any individual. They could brew the potion and impersonate Malfoy's lackeys, Crabbe and Goyle, in order to get Malfoy to spill the information.

Of course, that really turned out to be bad idea when Ron was caught trying to steal the ingredients from Snape's cupboard. In hindsight, Hermione should have been the one to borrow the components instead of Ron. Anyways, after Ron was given an unfairly strict detention, the ingredients vanished from the cupboard. From the smug look that Snape was giving to Harry, he couldn't help but suspect that Snape had got a wind of the plan. But Harry quickly dispelled the notion because Ron hadn't spilled the secret (he promised) and Snape very well couldn't read other's mind. This just meant that their genious plan of getting Malfoy to confess was foiled.

When Christmas arrived, Ron and Hermione went to their home while Harry didn't. His stay had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he had ditched his sensei back home and had ran away from the gruesome training. Nope. Not at all. Harry just happened to have something to do. Hermione's idea of using the polyjuice potion had failed but the plan itself was quite solid. And Harry even had the impersonation part down pat! He could just use his Copy Cat Jutsu!

On Christmas morning, Lee, the owl brought a small letter to Harry which was undoubtedly from his sensei. Harry was subconsiously expecting a Howler but it turned out to be a simple letter with strange patterns that Harry recognized as Fuinjutsu seals. In the back of the seal, there was written:

 _Keep it with you, at all times._

 _\- Sensei_

Well, at least his Sensei wasn't mad at him. He gave a package of Chocolate Frogs to Lee the owl but didn't really write anything (not because he was scared, oh no..)

After that, he set his plan in motion. The unfortunate target of his experiment became not Crabbe and not even Goyle but Theodore Nott, who had stayed behind for some reasons. Just when the Chirstmas dinner ended, Harry secretely followed Nott and once when the both reached an empty corridor Harry, in a very swift motion, incapacitated Nott by stricking the back of his neck in a precise manner. He then dragged Nott to an empty classroom and left him there while he used his Copycat Jutsu to follow a group of Slytherins to their dormitories. The whole thing proceeded smoothly except for the fact that Malfoy didn't happen to be the heir of the Slytherin. The only thing Harry learnt was that the Chamber had been previously opened before. Oh, and apparently Malfoy thought that, "That stinking potter couldn't be the heir even if he were to reborn for the ten thousandth time." Small blessings.

* * *

After the failed escapade at the Slytherin common room, Harry had nothing to go on with. Meanwhile, the classes had resumed and life at Hogwarts was returning to normal, at least as normal as it could be. The atmosphere was thick as usual and Harry was being avoided by everyone… as usual. Just when Harry thought that he could not bear it any longer, relief came in the form of Ron.

Apparently, Ron had found a diary in the girl's bathroom on the third floor. Just what the hell was Ron doing in the third floor? Harry tactfully didn't ask. Regardless, the two of them were prodding and probing the diary when they found that it could actually reply back! Remarkably, the diary also knew about the incident of the Chamber opening. And what it showed was simply unbelievable! Hagrid! The gamekeeper and one of Harry's only friends was the one who had opened the chamber the last time! Harry wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it for himself. Besides, Tom Riddle did look a bit dependable.

Just when the two of them were about to share this new piece of information with Hermione, to both of their horrors, Hermione was found petrified along with the Ravenclaw prefect! Harry and Ron were miserable upon hearing this news and while it did alleviate the rest of the school's fear about Harry being the heir (for he couldn't possibly attack his own friends), it didn't make Harry feel any better.

Harry and Ron, now determined to get to the bottom of this, ran to Hagrid's hut, only to find that Hagrid was being taken to Azkaban, the magical prison. By seeing the pale look on Hagrid's face, Harry could conclude that Hagrid was really really scared. The only thing left for the two was to follow the clue Hagrid left behind: "follow the spiders". Despite of Ron's [well-founded] fear of spiders, the two decided to follow the little buggers to the forbidden forest anyway… which turned out to be a mistake… a really, really big mistake.

* * *

Next up: A bit of dancing with our friendly spider, Aragog!


	9. Tom Riddle

The moment Aragog, that blasted eight legged talking monstrosity, said that he couldn't possibly deny fresh meat to his children, Harry knew that they were in trouble. Ron was already a unique shade of green and blue and was barely restraining himself from pissing in his pants. Not that Harry could blame him. He himself wasn't faring better.

"Ron! Run!" said Harry as he saw the spiders inching towards them with the same excitement as Dudley showed towards the ice cream truck.

Ron, who was in daze, was woken up by Harry's voice and immediately broke into a run, as if he was waiting just for those words.

Harry, too, began running. He was actually restraining himself to a speed barely faster than Ron. As the spiders began inching towards the two of them, Ron became more and more frantic and unfortunately ended up tripping in a root. That led to him being knocked out cold in the midst of the mayhem.

Harry realised a bit late that Ron was not behind him and was sprawled on the ground. A chill that had nothing to do with the night's air spread through his spine as he saw the spiders approach Ron's body. All thoughts about fleeing practically fled his mind. At the moment, he was only concerned about saving Ron.

He leaped at extreme speed and whacked a spider that nearly had his pincers on Ron. The spider couldn't even give a shreik as it crashed on the walls of the cave. This apparently had some effect as the rest of the spiders paused for a bit. The disproportionate show of strength led them to be cautious. But they were Acromantulas, driven more by instinct than rationale. The lull couldn't even last a while and they jumped on Harry and Ron.

Harry unleashed himself, not a shred of restraint remaining, he punched and kicked and basically rained on the acromantulas. However, he couldn't move even a meter apart from Ron lest the spiders attack him instead. The spiders too, were relentless in their attacks; as if they knew that if they allowed even a moment of respite to their adversary, he would pick up the unconscious body of his friend on the ground and flee.

Harry was barely fighting the spiders. It was not that they were particularly strong. Compared to Aragog, the rest of them really were children. They were not that big and not that strong. A hit from Harry was enough to incapacitate them. Despite of that, he felt that the spiders were gaining more ground. Their numbers were just that great. Cursing Hagrid furiously in his heart for leading them into a cave of hungry monsters, Harry continued his struggle.

He gave a fierce roundkick to a spider and borrowing momentum from the impact, kicked another one. It looked as if Harry was flying but it was actually the other way, the spiders were flying and crashing into the walls. Harry momentarily lost himself in the fight which turned out to be a big mistake because he found himself a little deeper into the crowd and consequently farther from Ron!

"RON!" Harry shouted as he saw a spider clutching Ron's pants and trying to drag it away.

Harry tried desperately to run up to him but the spiders around quickly surrounded him cutting off his way. Despair filled him as he realised that he could not save Ron now. Not with these spiders around him. Just as Harry thought of doing incredily foolish, a much needed miracle happened!

Ron's car, the Flying Ford Angelina which had ditched them to run off into the forbidden forest, somehow came to their rescue! The machine mowed through the spiders and ran up to Ron and crashed into the spider that was dragging his body.

The surrounding arachnids were momentarily stunned and so was Harry but he quickly recovered and realised that if he was to leave the cave alive along with Ron, he had to act now.

Harry circulated chakra furiously. A pale blue aura emanated from his body as a consequent and with strength and speed surpassing any eleven year child… cross that, with strength and speed surpassing even the fastest and the strongest Olympian atheletes, Harry ran towards Ron. The Ford Angelina had cleared a pathway and Harry took no time in picking up Ron and princess carry him through that very same pathway in lightening speed.

The spiders who were distracted by the car, came into their senses as they saw their prey escaping and gave a furious chase. However, it turned out to be a fruitless endeavor; they soon realised that their prey's speed was not something that they could ever hope to match. After giving a very short chase, very unlike the nature of Acromantulas, they returned back to their cave, dissatisfied.

* * *

"Harry!"

Ron woke up with a disturbed expression on his face.

"The spiders! What happened? I passed out didn't I? Did they eat us? Are we in heaven?"

Harry had just started catching his breath, so he couldn't answer immediately. He had ran faster than he ever could and had only just brought Ron outside the forest.

"No Ron, we survived! That flying car of yours came into the cave. I dragged you inside the car and it brought us here!" Harry said.

Not exactly a lie, the car did save them.

"It did?"

Harry nodded.

"Well, now I feel bad for calling it stupid. But Harry! What was Hagrid thinking? Follow the spiders!? If he ever comes out of Azkaban, I will kill him!"

Ron exclaimed with fury.

"Calm down Ron. The meeting with Aragog was unfortunate"

Ron scoffed.

"But we did find out something, didn't we? At least it was not Hagrid who unleashed the monster."

Ron grumbled. Much as he hated spiders and had came close to meeting his great granddad weasley, bless his soul, he couldn't bring himself to hate Hagrid. This was one of the reasons that Ron was put in Gryffindor in the first place.

"Anyways, let's go Ron, if we are caught here at this time, it will be detention till the next year!"

Ron swiftly nodded and the two of them made way into the school, in the hopes of convincing Dumbledore that Hagrid didn't in fact, opened the chamber.

* * *

The day was simply perfect for some Quidditch outside but it was one of those days that Harry simply couldn't bring himself to play. Thanks to Hermione's brilliance he had just found out that the monster of the chamber was, in fact, a Basilisk. A monstrous snake that could kill you on sight! Didn't exactly fill one with hope.

Anyways, Wood's enthusiasm did end up bringing Harry to the Quidditch grounds but it was for naught because the match was cancelled. It turned out that someone was captured and taken into the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron were a bit scared because this was the first time someone had been physically taken in the Chambers but they were simply mortified when they learned that it was none other than Ron's clumsy little sister, Ginny! The moment it was mentioned, Ron became as pale as a ghost. Harry had to quickly take some action even if it were only to distract Ron from that state.

So they ran off to find Professor Lockhart, the Defense Professor. Too bad that Lockhart was already packing his bags and trying to run off. He panicked when he saw the duo and tried to jinx them but Harry was quick with his wands as he disarmed Lockhart swiftly. With no other choice, Lockhart had to follow them to the third floor bathroom.

"Harry, why are we here?" Ron asked.

"Think about it Ron, whenever there was an attack, this floor was flooded with water. Where else the water could come from if not the bathroom?"

Ron agreed on Harry's explanation but the question remained, just where was the entrance of the chambers?

After talking to a very angry and kinda sad moaning myrtle, Harry deduced that the sink must have been the entrance. As he went towards the sink, he saw small squiggly lines that came alive! They were not lines, but snakes instead! In a flash of inspiration, Harry talked… to the snakes:

 _Ooopenn_

The entire structure moved with a great noise to reveal a tunnel! They had found the Chamber of Secrets!

The three made their way to the Chamber and were about to continue forward when Lockhart attacked Ron incapacitating him and seizing his wand! Turned out, Lockhart been a fraud all along! He had taken the fame and glory of those who actually did all those adventures and had wiped out their memories!

He was about to do the same to the two of them but Harry was very quick to act. He got behind Lockhart swiftly and kicked him… hard. Lockhart crashed into the wall which led to the ceiling falling down and creating a barrier between him and Lockhart/Ron. The noise woke up the unconscious Ron.

"Harry! What happened here!?" Ron asked from the other side.

"Ron, it was Lockhart! He attacked you and took your wand! He was about to do some spell to me… something obliviate, but your wand backfired Ron. The impact also collapsed the ceiling!"

"That bastard!" Ron spat!

"Anyways, for now, I will just go alone to the Chambers. You try and clear this wall. Use the levitation spells. Oh, and keep an eye on Lockhart. He might wake up."

Ron could only nod helplessly. He wanted to go on the search together but in this scenario, there was nothing he could do except for pray for Harry's safety.

Harry moved forward through the tunnels and walked into what could only be the Chamber of Secrets. The chamber was well lit with torches on the wall. The path to the center of the chamber was decorated with exotic statues on the either sides. There were very large pools of water on either side and right at the front, there was a great statue of an old man, possibly of Salazar Slyterin himself. Standing in the center, in all his glory, was Tom Riddle. The one from the diary.

"Harry Potter," Tom riddle exclaimed!

Harry was wide-eyed because there was Ginny, lying on the ground besides Tom Riddle.

"Poor girl, poured all of her heart out in this diary you see. I slowly leeched her strength without her even knowing until it was too late," said Tom Riddle as he saw Harry looking towards Ginny.

It had been Voldemort, no, Tom Riddle, possessing Ginny all along! He had killed the roosters, he had opened the Chamber of the Secrets and commanded the snake to kill the students. It was only through sheer luck that none of the students were harmed! Harry couldn't check his rage. He had nearly killed Hermione!

He ran to Tom Riddle and swung at him. To his utter surprise, his arm passed right through the teenage boy.

"I am, ethereal you see," Tom Riddle laughed, "You can't do anything to me, Potter. But I can!"

And then Riddle shot a stunner through his wand at Harry. Out of pure instinct, Harry avoided the spell that was shot from such a close range. Even Tom Riddle was momentarily stumped. He followed through other spells in quick succession but Harry simply danced through them as if he were playing.

"You are pretty quick for a brat, Potter! But I am curious, let's see how well you fare against Slytherin's pet."

 _Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four._

The words were spoken in parseltongue but Harry couldn't tell it apart but it didn't matter. What did matter, was that the mouth of the great statue opened and from there something (Harry didn't dare look up) crawled out.

In that moment, Harry knew that he was in huge trouble! Tom Riddle had unleashed the Basilisk upon him.

* * *

Next up: The much awaited fight with the Basilisk.


	10. Basilisk

When the Basilisk slithered into the chamber, Harry did the only sensible thing that he could. He ran.

He quickly escaped the chamber from one of the tunnels. Unsurprisingly, the Basilisk still follwed him. The pipes were slippery so Harry had to maintain his footing but the Basilisk knew the place inside out.

 _"Come to me, Let me kill you.. Rip you to pieces.."_

The Basilisk hissed while chasing Harry which, he thought, was kinda funny.

 _Why would I come to you if you'll kill me, stupid snake._

Harry thought inwardly. Harry dodged the snake and hid into one of the adjacent pipes. Remembering vaguely that snakes used smell and body temperature to detect their prey, he forcefully calmed his heart down and smeared surrounding dirt and grime upon his body. He didn't even have the time to be disgusted because the Basilisk was already slithering closer and closer.

There was a technique where a ninja could try and calm down the Chakra within his body. It was basically a meditation technique which lowered one's heartrate, breathing and overall metabolism. It was said that a top ninja could remain without food and water for months in this meditative state. Harry was using the same technique in the hopes that it would lower his body temperature.

He could hear the Basilisk in the tunnels. He had taken multiple precautions, against the beast's nose and thermal organs. But just this much was not enough. Harry had realised that had he perfected the Clone jutsu that his sensei had taught him, he could have used it to distract the Basilisk. But he didn't have the luxury of feeling regrets at this moment.

 _Dog-Boar-Ram_

Taking a decisive action, Harry executed the Copy Cat jutsu and changed himself into a pebble lying on the ground. It was a variant of the copy cat jutsu where one could turn himself into an inanimate object. Of course, it wasn't that a person really turned into the object. The Copy Cat jutsu was still an illusion that projected the body of the target over the ninja's body.

In the case of inanimate objects, it projected the image of the object while hiding the ninja in a layer of Chakra. It was perfect if the ninja wanted to hide from someone's eyes. But he still would be present in the vicinity. If anyone were to walk into him, he would bump into the ninja despite of him being invisible.

With this visual illusion in place, Harry could only pray that the dirt and grime on his body was enough to mask his scent and his Chakra control was enough to lower his body temperature. He firmly closed his eyes and stood there, unmoving.

The Basilisk came into the tunnel. Harry could hear it slither just in front of him. If he weren't forcefully controlling his heart right now, he was sure that it would have been beating furiously. Yes, he was that scared. Although he had taken a few meager precautions, he wasn't sure that they would work. For the first time in his life, Harry truly felt that there was a possibly of him dying.

Elsewhere, an old man opened his eyes.

* * *

Harry was truly scared. The Basilisk was literally right in front of his face. He could feel its smelly breath on his face. Harry feared for the worst. He was anticipating his death at any moment. Miraculously, it didn't come to pass. His lame attempts at hiding himself had, to his utter surprise and relief, succeeded.

The Basilisk was slowly retreating. It was too early to celebrate, however, so Harry kept on holding his breath. Only when the Basilisk had definitely moved on to other tunnels, did he relax. He let out a huge breath. He had just survived a major event and he knew how lucky he had been. If there were even a minor error, an uncovered portion of his body or some flaw in his Copy Cat technique, he would have surely perished.

Just when Harry was relaxing, he suddenly remembered a very important detail.

"Ginny!" he exclaimed internally and ran (albeit slowly) to the chambers.

He knew that Ginny was slowly dying and even after a close encounter with death, he couldn't forsake her.

"You are alive Potter," Tom Riddle expressed surprise. Not many second year brats could survive a Basilisk on their tail.

Harry ignored Riddle and kneeled besides Ginny. She was very pale, and cold.

"Unfortunately, you can do nothing. Just a few more minutes and she will be complete drained of her magic and I, Lord Voldemort, the strongest wizard, no, the strongest person in this entire world will resurrect again. I will rule this world!"

Harry mumbled.

"What did you say?" Riddle asked.

"I said, you are not the strongest."

Riddle laughed, "Really? Then may I know who is the one even stronger than I, Lord Voldemort?"

"My master," Harry said resolutely, while looking at Riddle's face.

"Ah, I see that you are Dumbledore's pet through and through Potter. Even so far as to proclaim him your master. Yes, Dumbledore is certainly powerful… but you forget, he is getting old, and senile. I on the—"

"Oh stop it, I don't mean Professor Dumbledore. I mean my sensei. He is the strongest person in this whole world."

Riddle snorted, "Your sensei? He probably teaches you Karate? Or Taekwando? Turned out that you are a kid after all Potter. There is no way that a muggle could possibly be greater than me, silly boy. But forget about that, it is of no importance right now. In the next few moments you are going to die anyway."

Harry had nearly dispelled Riddle's word as a typical villain talk but he realised, to his horror, that the Slytherin's pet Basilisk had silently crawled right behind him.

Harry ran away as fast as he could to escape and he would have succeeded, but he suddenly realised that he couldn't move!

"The Body bind spell, Potter. Pretty useful," Riddle said, while twirling his wand

Harry squirmed inside the binding spell. Circulating chakra fiercely, he tried breaking free from it but Riddle was a really powerful wizard. Tried as he may, Harry couldn't break open from his bindings.

"And now,"

 _Kill him…_

* * *

That was a command to the Basilisk. It took no time in lunging towards its prey with extreme speed. Harry closed his eyes and resigned himself. The body bind hadn't broken and he was helpless. In that moment, Harry regretted many things. He regretted that he was not strong enough. He regretted that he had not listened to his sensei and ran off. He regretted that he did not put his all in his training. But most of all, he regretted that he had not told his sensei just how thankful he really was.

A loud crash resounded throughout the chamber which was the Basilisk's unyielding strike.

Harry opened his eyes.

The first thing that came into his mind was the fact that he was not dead. The second thing he registered was that he was being carried by someone. And the third thing, again, was the fact that he was alive! He was really alive and kicking!

"The danger hasn't passed, kid," a mildly annoyed voice said which Harry promptly recognized as,

"Sensei!"

"Yes, yes, your sensei whom you ditched to be with your friend," he said, still annoyed.

Still, Harry was very very happy to hear that voice, even with that tone.

"Who are you?" Tom Riddle exclaimed.

He had clearly seen the old man appear out of nowhere to whisk Harry from within an inch of the Basilisk's fang.

"I am the kid's sensei… and you are someone who has tried to kill him."

Harry had thought that his sensei was angry with him, what with that tone he used earlier. But no, sensei was not angry with him, sensei was angry at Tom Riddle! The way he spoke to Riddle sent a chill down Harry's spine. If words really could kill, Riddle would have been dead right then.

Riddle, however, was somehow unaffected.

"Doesn't matter. _Kill the old man too!_ "

Riddle spoke.

"Sensei! Close your eyes, that is a Basilisk and it can kill if you look directly into his eyes," Harry quickly warned his sensei.

Sensei, however, scoffed.

"Oh I know what it is, I have killed many of them over the years. As for the eyes, kid, you know how to channel your chakra to your leg right?"

"Yes.." Harry answered, unsure why his sensei had asked him this question.

"Use that same technique, only this time, concentrate your chakra on your eyes."

Harry did the same without missing a beat. Suddenly, his vision cleared. He could see things with minute details. The pebbles lying on the ground, the intricate details etched into the walls of the chamber and so on.

"Chakra enhances your abilities. If you concentrate it in your ears, you can listen more clearly, in your eyes, it enhances your vision. If you had some ocular bloodline, it would also activate it. And in this particular case, my disciple,"

Sensei turned Harry's head towards a big pair of yellow eyes.

"It allows you to look into the beast's eyes, without dying."

"Impossible!" Riddle exclaimed, "Only Slytherin's true heir can look into Basilisk's eyes and survive!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Sensei made a shooing motion, "Now go kid, kick its ass."

With his vision restored and his sensei behind him, Harry got a tremendous boost of confidence. The snake suddenly didn't look so fearful.

The Basilisk lunged towards him but Harry jumped up swiftly and kicked on its snout. The snake crashed onto the ground with a huge boom.

"What!" Riddle cried out in alarm! A mere kid had overpowered the basilisk in terms of strength! This was simply unheard of.

But the fight wasn't over. The snake was stubborn. It whacked its tail at Harry while he was still in air. Before the tail could make contact, he turned his body in midair, smoothly avoiding it.

He landed on his legs and ran towards the Basilisk but was intercepted by a green bolt of spell.

Riddle had joined in on the fight.

"Sensei, a little help over here please!" Harry asked but his sensei was simply sitting on the top of the Slytherin's statue head and pretended not to hear him at all.

Yep, he was still angry.

For now, Harry was on his own. He calculated that he could probably defeat the Basilisk while dealing with Riddle. He just had to be cautious and not make hasty moves. But the spells that were coming at him were getting faster and more powerful. This gave him a sudden realization! Riddle was coming to life and Ginny was one step away from death!

"Sensei, please, Ginny will die if this continues," Harry pleaded.

His sensei couldn't act as if he hadn't heard this time. He still didn't have any intention of joining the battle but he decided to give a little help to his disciple. With a few hand seals, a slender sword appeared on his hands, which he threw down to Harry.

"Take this sword. It's named Kusanagi. It can cut through anything and as it so happens, it is a bane for snakes. Perfect for the occasion."

Harry promptly collected the sword and something strange happened, the Basilisk paused and cried!

 _Nooooo! Pain! Fear! Anguish!_

Just when Harry was wondering why this snake was iterating through all known negative emotions, a sight happened that practically scared him to bits!

The Basilisk, in his mad frenzy, went for Ginny who was still unconscious. Alarmed! Harry moved at lightening speed. Before his sensei could do anything, Harry was already standing between the Basilisk and Ginny.

Pierce

The sword pierced through the Snake's mouth and emerged through the top of his snout and it stopped, without even fidgeting. That was the power of the God killing sword, Kusanagi.

"Kid!" an alarmed sensei was immediately by his side.

"Hahaha! You are dead potter!" Riddle said pointing towards Harry's upper arm. A Basilisk tooth had disloged itself and was firmly stuck on his arm. He had been bitten!

"There is no cure to the Basilisk venom! You are dead! Dead!"

"Sensei…" Harry said weakly, "Please… Ginny!"

A very complicated emotion flashed past sensei's face. He moved away from Harry and in practically an instant, arrived before Riddle. He snatched the wand from Riddle's arm. And before Riddle even registered what had happened, thrust a kunai to his body which passed through Riddle's body.

"Sneaky bastard," Sensei scoffed.

"Sensei… diary!" Harry said in a flash of inspiration.

And indeed, there was a black diary lying on the ground. The moment the diary was mentioned, a trace of fear passed through Riddle's face. It convinced Sensei that the diary really was the key.

He thrust the kunai to the Diary which did pierce it but the diary repaired itself in practically an instant!

"It's no use!" Riddle mocked!

"Oh I'll see about that," Sensei said as he extended his arm. The sword, Kusanagi, flew towards him. He dropped the diary to the ground and pierced it using Kusanagi's tip.

Ink began flowing from the diary and a hole appeared on the still-ethereal Riddle's body.

"NOOOOOOOOO"

With an unwilling yell, Riddle succumbed to death.

* * *

As soon as that was done, Sensei flew to Harry and bent down.

"Sorry… sensei… I… disappointed… you," each word Harry said was with great difficulty. He truly was succumbing to the poison.

"Heh, you talk as if I am going to let you die kid," Sensei said with a smile, "There was a guy I knew… was simply obsessed with snakes. As it so happened, he had invented a very complicated medicine. One that could cure each and every venom in existence."

A bottle appeared on his hands,

"Now drink this up."

The bottle had a transparent liquid inside, which kinda smelled like ginger and alchol. Turned out, his sensei wasn't joking. The medicine really was effective. Within seconds, the effects of the poison was being washed off his body. He was feeling fine and the grogginess was gone.

"Amazing!"

"Yes, it is. I tell you, the guy was a maniac but also an undeniable genius," Sensei said while healing the wound where the Basilisk had bitten him with green medical Chakra. The wound was already starting to close up.

"Sensei," Harry said, "I am sorry."

Sensei didn't respond, he merely continue looking at Harry in a manner that suggested, _Please continue.._

"I was foolish. I shouldn't have run away from the training however excruciating, painful, murderous or hellish it was. You saved me today, but if you hadn't arrived, I would have died along with Ginny. I want to be strong sensei, I want to protect those around me. I promise that I will not complain ever!"

"Never ever?"

"Nuh uh"

"Even if the training is twice as hard?"

"Even if it is thrice as hard!" Harry exclaimed resolutely.

"Alright then, it's settled. From next time, you will have ten times more training than usual!" Sensei said excitedly.

All color faded from Harry's face. He stuttered.. "T-Ten… times?"

"Kid, you jumped between that girl and basilisk. You put your life in danger. Even when you were dying of the snake's poison, you still thought about her. Do you know why you did that?" Sensei asked.

"Because if I hadn't, she would have died," Harry proclaimed unhesitatingly.

"So?" Sensei asked, "Millions of people die every second on this planet. You can't save every single one of them."

"But still sensei," Harry was unyielding, "I can't let someone die in front of my eyes."

Sensei sighed, "Kid… no, Harry, you are an idiot."

Harry was about to protest but sensei continued, "And it's alright. I have known a few idiots in my time. But, they were not like you. They were strong, crazy strong. They could crush the mountains and raise sea if they wanted to. Do you know why I am telling you this?"

Harry shook his head.

"Being an idiot is not easy, Harry. If you want to continue being an idiot who rushes to the aid of everyone arround him, then be strong, just like them! Right now, you do not have that qualification."

Harry could say nothing in return. His sensei had a point. He was weak, too weak. If he wanted to continue protecting his friends, he needed to be strong.

Harry knelt down and practically begged, "Teach me, sensei."

Sensei sighed again, "You are impossible to deal with, kid."

Meanwhile, Ginny was making some movements. She was coming into consciousness.

"Now go, take that girl along with you."

"Oka… Oh! I forgot, how are we supposed to climb up that pipe!" Harry asked worriedly.

"Huh? Just climb up using chakra, you idiot," Sensei admonished him.

"B-But, I can't let them know that I can use chakra!" Harry said worriedly.

"You mean, your friends do not know? How do you explain your abilities to them then?"

"I… I just don't use it in front of them. I thought that since magic wielding people can't let non-magic using people know about them… it must have been the same in case of Chakra."

Sensei was truly exasperated. Turned out that the kid didn't practice his skills in the school. No wonder he was so weak.

"Just tell me what you need," Sensei said.

"Ehh… it would have been great if I had some brooms."

"You mean those flying brooms? Okay, you will find some lying around the place where you landed."

"You know where we landed?" Harry asked, surprised.

"The fuinjutsu seal I gave you, do you have it on you?" Sensei asked in annoyance.

"It's… oh, I must have forgotten it in the dorms!" Harry said.

"Exactly! after I explicitly told you to keep it with you at all times, you forgot it in your dorms! It is an anchor, kid. With that seal, I know where to appear. I had to trace your smell to get to this place, undetected, in a school full of people! Do you know that I nearly broke down your dorm room? Forget about it, the girl is already waking up, I will go and arrange some brooms for you, I think I saw some lying around," said Sensei as he started walking back.

"Actually sensei, could you give me that sword?" Harry asked.

"Whatever for?"

"I just thought up a great story to tell the Professors," Harry smiled.

* * *

Author Notes:

Yes, the snake guy was Orochimaru.

To those wondering just how the Sensei came to the chambers without Ron noticing: see, Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu ( wiki/Earth_Release:_Underground_Projection_Fish_Technique)


	11. Shadow Clone Jutsu

"They really bought it? A brat killing a whats-that-thing Basilisk? Did they even see the snake for themselves?" Sensei expressed his disbelief.

Harry had already returned to Little Whinging and was now meeting with his sensei. In fact, he had come to the grounds straight after placing his trunks to his room.

"No sensei, Professor Dumbledore didn't see the Basilisk. But he really did believe me," Harry insisted.

"Strange," Sensei muttered.

"Anyways, I asked for the sword back, Kusanagi. But Professor Dumbledore said that the sword is the school's property since it was found in the chamber. I tried getting it back but—"

Harry was getting increasingly frantic as he continued on.

"Forget it," his sensei interrupted.

"But sensei, the sword, it's important, isn't it?" Harry asked.

"Yes, it is. But once Kusanagi recognizes a master, it will come whenever commanded, no matter where it is, so your professor can't contain it."

"Oh, so it will come upon your command then?" Harry was relieved.

"No."

"No?" He asked, perplexed.

"The Kusanagi doesn't recognize me as its master, not that I am complaining. I have always hated that stupid sword. It is only fitting that it hate me too," Sensei explained.

Seeing that Harry was still confused, Sensei continued,

"Legend says that it was found inside the fourth tail of the eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi. Perhaps, that is the reason that the sword only recognizes someone who has a compatibility with snakes. And let me tell you Harry, I simply hate snakes."

"But sensei, why did you have the sword then?" Harry asked.

"Hey, I only said that I do not like that sword, doesn't mean that I can't use it. It's useful now and then. But you shouldn't be asking me that. You should be asking me, 'sensei, how do I summon back my sword'."

"My sword!?" Harry said, surprised.

"Yes, the Kusanagi has accepted you. Do you think that wielding that sword is easy? Absolutely not. But I saw for myself, the ease with which you handled it. This can only mean one thing, Kusanagi has recognized you as its master."

"But why?" Harry asked.

"How would I know what that idiot sword thinks?

"It might be that it is desperate for a master, it's been very long since it had one. Or it might just be that you are compatible with snakes."

Harry suddenly felt fear. Yes, he was indeed compatible with the snakes. He could even speak with them! But he had not told this particular bit of information to his sensei.

"…"

"What did you say kid?" His sensei asked.

"I… I can talk to snakes."

This stumped his sensei for a bit. But he recovered quickly.

"Oh well, could have been worse," He said.

"But sensei, you hate snakes, don't you? What could be worse than them?"

His sensei looked at him as if deciding whether or not to answer. After much deliberation, he finally spoke,

"Slugs. Much much worse than snakes."

* * *

Just as Sensei had said, the Kusanagi really returned to Harry when he simply wished for it. It would have been difficult to just keep the sword with him though. His uncle and aunt, not to mention Dudley, would have surely freaked out if they ever laid eyes on the menacing sword. Thankfully, just as he was thinking about ways to hide it, Kusanagi conveniently disappeared out of his hands to _wherever stupid swords go_ * (as per his sensei).

"Now, your training. Before we proceed, show me the Clone Jutsu," Sensei said.

Harry was a bit embarrassed, but he still executed the hand seals

Ram-Snake-Tiger

Two clones came out this time, significantly improved than the last time. However, not even a few seconds later, they disappeared into thin smoke.

"You created the clones, but you failed to sustain them," Sensei remarked.

"Yes, I am sorry sensei, I shouldn't have slacked off in the school," Harry said.

"You shouldn't have, yes, but you did anyways. As a result, your Chakra control has become more terrible kid."

"So, will we work on Chakra Control?" Harry inquired.

"We will not."

"No? But Sensei, wouldn't it be better if I quickly learned Chakra Control?"

"Quickly? Heh, it's not a one or two days' task you know. Chakra control requires continuous practice for months. For now, we'll focus on boosting your combat power. I've come to know that you are a noble idiot who has a tendency to run headfirst into dangers. Since you couldn't possibly not do that, you at least need to be powerful. So be it then, we'll make you powerful."

Harry was confused. As far as he knew, battle strength also took time to develop. It too wasn't something that could be done in one or two days, much like Chakra Control. Then what could Sensei possibly mean?

Sensei spoke, as if he had read Harry's mind,

"We will start by learning a new ninjutsu. It is a combat oriented jutsu. Oh, and it is a personal favorite of mine."

 _Tiger_

The Jutsu seal was rather simple.

Immediately, with a loud puff of smoke, a copy of sensei popped up.

"Clone Jutsu?" Harry observed.

"No, it's no simple Clone Jutsu," Both of the Senseis extended their hands and lightly poked on Harry's forehead.

"The touch… Both of you are real sensei!" Harry exclaimed. As far as he knew, Clone Jutsu only produced illusions and not a real copy of the user. But this was the real deal.

"Yes, both of us are real. But one of us is flesh and blood while the other is just a solid mass of Chakra. This technique is difficult to use. Not just because it consumes a huge amount of Chakra but also because a great deal of stamina, as well as mental fortitude, is required. Then there is already the difficulty of executing the technique.

"It would really have been better if you had better control before learning this Jutsu, but since we are short on time, that will have to wait. Fortunately, even with your level of control, I believe that you can execute this technique to a passable degree; with enough practice that is."

Sensei suddenly became serious.

"Remember Harry, this technique is called Shadow Clone Technique. It has saved mine and my friends' life more than I could possibly count. And now, I will pass it to you. Within the end of the summer, I believe that you would be able to use this technique. Are you ready?"

Harry exclaimed loudly.

"Yes Sensei!"

* * *

Throughout the summer, Harry did only a single thing: Practice, practice, and more practice. Oh, and a little bit of the homework too.

The training was excruciating. Sensei hadn't joked when he had said that it would be ten times more difficult. But somehow, Harry persevered. The feeling of having come close to death in the Chamber of Secrets turned out to be a huge motivation. He swallowed his pain and misery and kept on doing whatever his sensei instructed. To increase his stamina, he ran through the entire day and night without food or even water. To increase mental fortitude (or that's what his sensei said), he spent his entire day out in the sun without moving even an inch of his body. His sensei really wanted him to not even breathe but that was simply impossible.

He didn't return to the Dursleys household for weeks at a time. Not that they ever complained. Aunt Petunia muttered now and then about ungrateful brats but that was a very mild thing so it didn't count.

Slowly, Harry could feel his strength increasing. He could run faster and for a prolonged amount of times. He could climb buildings and jump at an impossible height. His punches packed real power, but more than anything else, he had now finally succeeded in creating his Shadow Clone.

"Congratulations," Sensei said to the two Harries before him, "It really isn't an easy feat to succeed in this technique. You have worked hard Harry."

""Thanks, Sensei,"" the two Harries said at the same time.

"But it's no time to be complacent kid," Sensei executed the Shadow Clone technique and then there were two of them.

"Your physical training can only be done by your main body," One of the Senseis said, "But your chakra control can also be done by your clone," the other followed.

This way, the two aspects of his training progressed parallelly. Turned out, Shadow Clone Technique was really a great tool when used this way. Harry's Physical capabilities and Chakra control increased sharply but there was a major disadvantage. He was dead tired, at all times.

Still, he didn't complain. The training kept on going and suddenly, September 1 had arrived.

* * *

In the rooftops of one of the tall buildings in Surrey, a bizzarre scene was occuring. A fight was going on with four participants. Specifically, two Harries and two Senseis were sparring with each other. The spar was purely physical including kicks, punches and body maneuvers. The hits were powerful and the dodges elegant. Frankly, it was quite the sight.

The spar continued until a few more minutes and then the two senseis simultaneously kicked the two harries. One of the Harries vanished into a puff of smoke from being unable to endure the impact while the other remained on the ground groaning in pain.

"You have improved," said Sensei. His Shadow Clone had already vanished.

"I still can't beat you though," Harry grumbled as he got up.

"Oh don't worry about it. I'm sure you will beat me one day," Sensei said, while secretly snickering inside.. _If only the kid knew._

"Have you prepared everything?" Sensei asked.

"Yes, sensei. I already shopped for everything the other day and all of my belongings are packed and ready," Harry replied promptly.

"Alright, you can go now but remember my instructions,"

Harry grumbled, "That thing about practicing in the Chamber of Secrets is fine and all, but sensei, about the Shadown Clones… Do we really have to go overboard with it?"

"Absolutely," Sensei replied, "Right now, you lack both Chakra capacity and the mental fortitude to create more than two Shadow Clones at a time and that won't do. Shadow Clones are very very valuable tools for battles. They can aid in distraction, serve as reinforcements and even reconnaissance. Plus, they are a great tool for training too. I am sure you remember?"

Harry nodded.

"That is precisely why you have to quickly increase your strength. You must be able to create at least five Shadow Clones by the end of your term. Normally, it would have taken you several years to increase your capability like that. But with the exercise I've suggested, the time will decrease drastically."

"But sensei, I couldn't possibly do it in the school? I mean, maintaining at least one Shadow Clone at all times? My friends will find out!" He complained.

"Not if you are careful. This is a good opportunity, kid. Just treat is as a stealth exercise."

Harry was still unconvinced. How was he going to make sure that none of his friends saw the two Harries at a time? But this was no time to complain; it was already the time for the train.

* * *

"Pardon me… excuse me… coming through…"

Harry desperately made his way into the train at the very last moment. The platform was already packed with parents wishing goodbyes to their children and on top of that, the train had started moving. Bustling through a few middle aged men who looked like muggles ("Hey! Watch it!") and jumping above a palanquin(?), Harry finally made his way into the train.

"Hey Harry! Here!" Ron exclaimed from a nearby compartment.

"Mate, did you get it?" He asked.

"Err… get what?" Harry asked in an uncertain manner.

"That… whats-it-called, yes, muneral water," Ron said.

"Mineral water Ron," Harry replied, a bit slow, "And yes, I did get it."

"How does it look like? Can I see?"

"I… drank it," Harry said and then immediately followed up, "And threw the bottle into the dustbin."

"Oh, a pity really. But really mate, when you said that bit about the muggles selling the water in bottles, I thought you were messing with me for a moment," Ron laughed.

"It's a nice idea, isn't it Weasley?" said a voice that immediately made Harry feel something along the line of, Merlin, not again!

"Malfoy," Ron growled.

It really was the blonde boy surrounded by his two lackeys who were trying to look scary but weren't quite succeeding.

"Really though Weasley, it does have a lot of potential. Pity that you don't know the aguamenti spell. And you even needed the money, didn't you? What with that lottery fiasco. How much did you get in the end Weasley? 50 galleons?"

Ron was quickly getting a very unique shade of Red, from both anger and embarrassment.

"Get lost Malfoy. A second longer and you might end up infecting others with your stupidity," Harry said dismissively.

Malfoy turned at him with abject fury.

"You think you are the hotshot, don't you Potter? Being Dumbledore's dog must have finally gotten into your head. But really Potter" — Malfoy drew his wand — "are you really that naive?"

Harry was in a ready instance. If Malfoy got any closer, he was ready to break his arms. Ron had also drawn his wand in a swift fashion as had Crabbe and Goyle. Things had gotten quite tense in practically an instant.

"What are you doing!? Drawing wand at your fellow students, that's five points from Slytherin, each!"

An irrate Percy had appeared just in time to prevent an incident.

Malfoy glared at Percy but he pulled back nonetheless. School had just started and it wouldn't be good for him to lose any more points or his head of house would surely be furious. With a sneer hanging on his face, he left the compartment.

"I wonder what made him so…" "Stuck up you mean?"

Ron supplied.

"Yes," Harry nodded.

"What do you mean yes?" Percy said sharply, "If it wasn't for you tripping him outside, he wouldn't have been so angry."

Harry said in a very small voice, "I tripped him?"

"Harry, I know that Malfoy was bullying that muggleborn but that doesn't mean that you can go around attacking him," Percy lectured.

"Oh shut the hell up Percy," Ron snapped, "it must have been an accident. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Malfoy who had deliberately fallen in front of Harry to make it seem as if he had tripped."

Percy looked at Ron as if to say, _Mom is going to hear about this_ , while Ron just appeared nonchalant as if to say, _bite me_. Harry, meanwhile, was quite restless.

"Alright boys, I'll leave you now. Make sure to not stir up any more troubles or it'll be detention for the lot of you," Percy warned them before running out of the compartment.

" _Or it'll be the detention for the lot of you,_ " said Ron while imitating Percy, "Really, he is such a prat! Don't mind him Harry. And nice of you to trip that stupid Malfoy. Serves him right for bullying the first years."

"Y-Yea…"

"Anyways, wanna play some Exploding Snaps?" Ron asked.

Harry agreed immediately.

"Say Ron, what was that thing about the Lottery fiasco?"

Ron's ear turned pink again.

"It's nothing really. Just the stupid Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. Father buys the occasional lottery ticket and we luckily won the prize."

"Congratulations Ron!" Harry said genuinely. This was a good thing as the Weasleys were always tight on money.

"Nah… I mean, it would have been nice really but some other bloke, Wimblydon, contested the prize. Turned out, the Daily Prophet had printed two identical tickets by mistake."

That… was quite unlucky.

"So you guys halved the prize?" Harry asked cautiously.

"No. Apparently, our nine didn't look nine enough," Ron said bitterly, "We only got 30 percent of the prize. A shame really. Mom and Dad wanted to visit Bill in Egypt. Guess that will have to wait. But they did get me something."

Ron proudly showed his new Ollivander wand.

"14 inch long, willow and a core of Unicorn hair. It's loads comfortable than my previous one," Ron said joyfully.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Come on, do some spell," Harry encouraged.

Ron scratched the back of his head but agreed nonetheless.

He swished the wand and flicked it,

"Aguamenti"

Nothing happened.

"We haven't studied this spell, have we?" Harry asked.

"No, but I've seen Mum do this many times, hold on a minute,"

He repeated the same procedure again,

"Aguamenti"

But no results.

Harry was just about to ask Ron to just forget it but Ron had taken it personally,

"Aguamenti, Aguamenti, Aguamenti" he shouted while flicking the wand incessantly.

Two things happened. The door of the compartment was opened by a girl with bushy brown hair and at the same moment, a jet of water erupted from the wand on Ron's hand.

Splash!

Ron wasjubilantt at first. That was until he saw a drenched Hermione, eyeing him with murderous glint in her eyes.

"Oh, h-hi Hermione. H-Here, let me help."

He tried to cast a spell again but Hermione just raised her hands, still trembling from rage, to stop him.

She then took out wand of her own and muttered "finite". Her clothes returned to normal. She said coldly, still glaring at Ron.

"Before I was so unceremoniously interrputed, Ron, I was about to ask you if you wanted to come to our compartment to play Exploding Snaps with Neville, Ginny, me, and… Harry! What are you doing here?"

She had only just seen Harry in the compartment.

"What do you mean?" Ron said, "He was with me the whole time."

"What do you mean he was with you the whole time? I saw him at the back of the train a while back. I was about to go call him after I fetched you," Hermione asked.

Harry, who was quite nervous by now, said, "I haven't moved from this compartment Hermione, you could ask Ron (Ron nodded vigorously). You must have been mistaken."

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment, "Are you sure?" She asked.

"Absolutely," Harry replied.

"Oh well, anyways Harry you do want to play Exploding Snaps right?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, yes, of course. Since we have already arranged the set, why don't I go to Neville's compartment and invite them all here?" Harry suggested.

"Of course mate, just don't take too long alright?" Ron answered, ignoring a doubtful Hermione.

Harry immediately escaped from there but not before hearing a short conversation between Ron and Hermione.

"I was sure I saw him back then,"

"Honestly Hermione, how could someone be in two places at once?"

* * *

 **Author Notes:**

Enter .. *drumrolls please*.. Shadow Clones.

Your thoughts on this matter?


	12. Fuuinjutsu

The Shadow Clone jutsu was a very simple jutsu at its core. It would just create a physical duplicate of the user using pure Chakra and fortunately for Harry, clothes came included. Unfortunately though, this jutsu couldn't replicate the wand. Whenever Harry visualised a shadow clone with a wand, he'd get a clone holding a Holly stick, not a magic wand. A small comfort came with the fact that his clone could, surprisingly, do magic! The clone sustained for a lesser period after performing spells which reinforced in Harry that magic was Chakra after all.

Since his Sensei had demanded of him to maintain at least one shadow clone at any time, Harry complied. Unfortunately, this required that one of the Harrys be hidden at all times. It was a relief that only him and Ron (and poor Lockhart) knew about the Chamber of Secrets where Harry often spent his time going through intense training sessions while his clone went through the classes in his stead. Things were not without trouble though. As was the case right now.

"Mr. Potter," said Professor Timber.

"Yes, Professor," Harry fidgeted in his seat.

Professor Timber, a stern lady who looked a bit like Minerva McGonagall, was the latest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The two of them were at her office at the moment. As for the reason...

"You disappeared from my class."

"Ah yes professor, I had somewhere to go… really urgent. Sorry about that," Harry replied.

To be honest, he had already known that he had no plausible excuses the moment his physical body gained the knowledge of his shadow clone disappearing right in the middle of the DADA class.

"No, you didn't just go somewhere, Mr. Potter. You literally disappeared," she said.

"It has happened a few times before Professor. Once when I was being chased by my cousin and his friends, I disappeared from the field and reappeared at the school's terrace. It was quite scary to be honest," Harry tactfully replied.

"I'd like you to know Mr Potter that it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that uncontrolled magical symptoms stop appearing in a juvenile wizard after he has been accustomed to his wand for a period of six months… unless, it were a really strenuous circumstance."

"Ah yes, Professor, I had to go to the loo you see. It was really really bad," Harry clutched his stomach in reply.

Professor Timber pursed her lips.

"I'd also like you to know, Mr. Potter, that wizards can not apparate or disapparate inside Hogwarts unless the Headmaster himself makes such an arrangement."

Boy, she was not going to give up, was she?

"About that… I really don't know Professor. I was holding it in for quite a while you see and then it became unbearable… perhaps Hogwarts sensed my emergency?"

Yep, his excuses were getting more and more flimsy.

Professor Timber asked impatiently,

"Oh? And pray tell Mr. Potter, why did Hogwarts also decide to add a puff of smoke to signal your disapparation?"

"Err… you see… professor… magic works in mysterious ways," Harry replied sagely.

"Do you know what I think Mr. Potter?" She asked rhetorically, "I think that you deliberately dropped a smoke bomb in the room and then used that Invisibility Cloak of yours, oh yes Headmaster told me about it, to escape from the classroom."

 _Brilliant! Why did he not think of this before?_

Harry beamed,

"Oh yes! Indeed professor, you totally got me. That's exactly what happened and I'm feeling extremely guilty for it."

He said with the cutest expression he could manage.

"At least you have the sense of admitting your crime," she said gruffly, "Honestly, you gryffindors would be the death of me. Weasley twins, Mr. Jordan and now you too!? I will have a stern talk with Minerva about your behavior. Now then, time for punishment.

"Let's see, 20 points for pointlessly interrupting my class, detention for a week and oh, I am also confiscating your Invisibility Cloak for the time-being."

"You can't do that!" Harry replied instinctively. He had been relying on his cloak to travel to and fro from his dorm to the Chamber of Secrets. Without it, things would get quite stressful.

"You'll find Mr. Potter that I very much can. Now, hand over your cloak. You'll get it at the end of your detention period."

A very miffed Harry left Professor Timber's room afterwards.

* * *

"Total disregard for rules. Blatantly showing off and seeking attention right in the middle of class. That boy is trouble Dumbledore," Snape said heatedly.

"Lemon Drops, Severus?" Dumbledore leisurely asked.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, would you be serious for once? Falling from that ridiculous height and not only surviving but also to come out unscathed. Kicking a bludger, a bludger of all things and managing to not break his leg? Killing a Basilisk with a sword?

"I tell you Dumbledore, these physical prowess only develop after one does undergoes some rituals, very very dark rituals," Snape explained impatiently.

Dumbledore looked up to Snape, "Severus, surely you are not suggesting that Harry did these rituals?"

"What else then?" Snape asked.

"There are strengthening Charms too," Dumbledore pointed out.

"Charms that even NEWT students find extremely difficult to cast to a rudimentary level. That level of perfection only comes when Flitwick himself tries on his lucky day."

Dumbledore smiled, "But you forget, Lily was a Charms mistress."

Snape was visibly affected when Lily's name came up.

Dumbledore continued, "The day Lily died for her son, the ancient Charm of Protection was activated."

"But that Charm only protects from Dark Magic," Snape interrupted.

Dumbledore became serious as he said, "That is very Arcane magic Severus. Allow me to boast a little bit but were it any other wizard, he wouldn't have been able to weave that Charm for Harry's protection in his home the way I have. But even so, I confess that I don't really know the full extent of its effects.

"Harry came to Hogwarts physically strong and agile and since I know beyond any doubt that he has not come into contact with any magical spells and rituals," he eyed his trinkets on the table, "I can only infer that his physique was shaped by Lily's charms."

Snape scoffed but said nothing. Dumbledore's reasoning was indeed not entirely impossible.

"Now then, if you'll pardon me Severus, I have work to attend to," Dumbledore said.

"Fine," muttered Snape and left the headmaster's room.

Dumbledore laid back on his chair and started reading the latest issue of Witch Weekly.

* * *

"You know Sensei, you can't apparate inside Hogwarts," said a wildly running and dodging Harry to his sensei who was busy throwing all kinds of kunai and shuriken at him. If he had some hope of catching his sensei's attention so that he could maybe relax a little bit with all that throwing, then he was wrong.

"What's apparate?" Sensei asked while increasing the number of projectiles.

" _huff… huff…_ You know… like how you… just appear.. _Ouch!_ inside here. That's not supposed to be possible,"

It was only after Harry had been pinned against the walls of the chamber with 12 kunais making an outline of him on the walls that his sensei finally stopped with all the throwing.

"Well, it might not be possible but then again, here I am, aren't I?"

"Well yeah! But Hermione says that the wards of Hogwarts are supposed to be very strong and not even Voldemort can breach them." Harry argued, "How do you just randomly appear here anywhere? You are not a wizard and you don't even know what's apparating," he asked.

Sensei got off from where he was sitting and began walking towards Harry and suddenly… disappeared.

" _Fuiinjutsu_ ,"

Harry jumped. His sensei had appeared right besides him.

"This is a most sublime art that utilizes the laws of nature itself to affect your reality," sensei explained.

Harry was, understandably, perplexed.

Sensei sighed.

"Observe," he said and proceeded to pull out a scroll. The scroll had delicate lines that kind of made a circle with protrusions coming out of it. A spiral stood out inside the circle. There were many other symbols that Harry didn't quite understand.

"Do you see the five little circles outside the main one?"

Harry nodded.

"Now gather your chakra in your five fingers of your right hand and press upon them all at once."

Harry complied. It took him a little time to gather sufficient chakras on his fingertips after which he pressed on the little circles all at once. With a pop and some smoke, a very well made lunch set was now suddenly in front of him.

"Eat," said sensei and Harry went at it.

"This is the wonders of the _Fuinjutsu._ What you just unsealed was stored somewhere away from here. And by somewhere away, I don't necessarily mean earth."

"Wait! This is alien food!?" Harry exclaimed and promptly earned a light electric zap on his forehead ( _hey!)_

"This scroll has a separate dimension ( _what's dimen- hey!)_ Don't interrupt. There's a separate place where I have stored many things. Just think of it as someplace else. Whenever I require it I unseal the things.

"But this is only a simple use of _Fuiinjutsu_. What you can do with it is only restricted by your imagination. You can leap across different places in practically an instant. You can seal huge calamities inside a pebble. And can even summon the _Shinigami_ himself to do your bidding."

Harry now had a very distinctive sparkle in his eyes that practically screamed, _teach me sensei teach me!_

"And no, you won't be learning it right now. This takes years and years of practice. Even to make the simplest of storage seal like this one, you need to put in a lot of studies."

And just like that, Harry deflated.

"But, it doesn't mean that you can't use it _._ "

Harry perked up again.

"Considering that you have been faithful to your training and can now sustain almost two shadow clones for prolonged periods of time, I have something to give you."

His sensei took out a scroll and gave it to him.

"This is a part of a twin seal that I devised myself. This scroll here (he proceeded to pull out another scroll), is its complement. It's very much like the one I gave you earlier."

Sensei spread out the scroll and affixed it to the grounds in the center of the chamber.

"Now, no matter where you are inside this castle, once you activate that seal you'll end up her-" Sensei couldn't continue because Harry already appeared right on top of that another seal.

Looking miffed, Sensei continued, "Like I said, once you activate that seal, you'll end up here. Right now, it won't work across a large distance but later it won't be a problem once you have enough Chakra. It'll help you come to the chamber from your room unnoticed so just keep this scroll inside your trunk or something."

"Yeah," a very exhausted Harry replied.

"Oh, and another thing, activating this seal takes a lot of toll on your chakra, so don't go using it willy nilly."

"Okay sensei," said Harry and proceeded to faint promptly.

Elsewhere, a book loudly dropped when the one holding it suddenly disappeared with a puff of smoke (alarming few students in the vicinity). And an interesting hippogriff suddenly found itself devoid of the rider above it. Just another day.


	13. Demon's Delight

"You disappeared from the library," said Professor Timbers in a threateningly flat tone.

Harry's using of the Fuinjutsu seal had thrown his chakra in disarray resulting in the vanishing of his shadow clones. Just his luck that one of the clones had to vanish in front of Professor Timber in the library.

"I-I…"

"Y-You?"

"J-Just that, you know Professor, how things are…"

"As a matter of fact, Mr. Potter, I don't know how things are. Please enlighten me," she said.

Harry was sweating buckets. He didn't even had his invisibility cloak and he sucked at making excuses. It was a wonder when Hagrid had believed that he'd just asked Buckbeak to drop him off in the middle of the lake so that he could swim to the shore (" _It's a'right 'arry, it's a hot day an' all. Did you make friends with the Giant Squid?")_

"I.. was…"

"You… were..?"

"I was abducted by Hogwarts," He said weakly.

Professor Timbers was stunned. Mostly due to the fact that someone could even conceptualize such an absurdity.

She sighed.

"Do you know what I think Mr. Potter?" She asked.

Harry shook his head.

"I think that you are in possession of some artifact that allows you to travel in between the temporal dimension."

"Oh yes Professor, absolutely Professor," he said before properly registering what the stern witch had said (what was temporal dimension anyway?).

"You confess to using Miss Granger's Time Turner then?"

"Oh absolutely Professor,"

"That'd be 100 points from Gryffindor. 50 from you and 50 from Miss Granger. And you'll serve detention with me in the Forbidden Forest."

100 points? That seemed quite excessive. Regardless, detention in Forbidden Forest was troublesome. Specially with Professor Timbers because he couldn't send one of his Shadow Clones over like he did in other detentions. Merlin knew that if a clone vanished one more time in front of the already incensed Professor… ugh, he would rather not think about it.

(He'd only realise later what he'd confessed to after Hermione hexed his bits off for lying and explained just what a time turner was.)

* * *

It was certainly a bother to juggle between training and assignments. Specially when Hermione was still angry at him. Regardless, days went on as they always do and suddenly Halloween was upon them all.

Professor Timber, in her infinite vengeance, had decided that this was the perfect day for Harry to serve detention in the Forbidden Forest. All of Harry's protests about missing the Halloween feast were duly noted and promptly dismissed.

"Some magical plants," Professor Timber said, "grow only on magically auspicious days such as Halloween."

The two of them were currently trudging along the outskirts of the forest.

"Demon's Delight is one of such plants. Do you know what it does Mr. Potter?"

 _Makes me miss out on Halloween feast,_ he grumbled inwardly.

"No Professor."

"Yes, well, you wouldn't know now would you? There are demons who walk the surface of the earth. Not werewolves, vampires and the likes. They are simply what we call the descendants. An actual demon, Mr. Potter, is one who you wish you'd never encounter. Strong beyond your greatest imaginations and magical like magic itself! They are the very definition of catastrophe."

This was interesting.

"Why are you telling me all this professor?"

Professor Timbers pursed her lips, "It was said that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named consorted with them at the peak of his power. For whatever reasons, they did not decide to involve themselves with the wizarding war, and be thankful that they didn't. But they did give him the power to turn the entire magical Britain upside down. It was only by that fateful night's defeat that we have a moment of respite. But don't slack Mr. Potter, You-Know-Who will return and the idea of him consorting with the demons again isn't too far fetched either. You'll need to know everything sooner or later. Besides, it's a wonderful conversation topic no?"

Harry had to agree. It was a unique conversation topic, if a bit creepy.

The two of them soon arrived at a clearing in the forest where Professor Timbers began picking up a very inconspicuous herb. Were it not for the occasional glitter that the plant made against the moonlight, it would be practically invisible to anyone's eyes.

"This is Demon's Delight Mr. Potter. When brewed along with a few other ingredients, this gives a potion so potent and practically irresistible to Demons that you can actually use it to summon one."

Harry was alarmed at that bit.

"P-Professor… do you perhaps intend to summon one?" he asked warily.

"Don't be an idiot Mr. Potter. Summoning them is no easy feat. This one herb is a very common ingredient in that potion. To concoct a full potion is nigh impossible for someone like me. I don't have that kind of Galleons nor that kind of magic. It just so happens that this ingredient makes Wolfsbane Potion more stable, one of its many usage. So I'm getting this as a fav-"

The sudden break in her speech was accompanied by a chill the likes of which Harry had never ever felt before in his life.

"Get behind me Mr. Potter!"

Professor Timbers nearly shrieked. Not having any idea of what was going on, Harry decided to swiftly obey her.

"What are they doing here!" She asked to no one in particular.

"Calm down Timbers, you can do this, fifth year, when David asked you out to Hogsmead…" She started talking to herself.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A thin wisp of silvery smoke manifested. The chill visibly lessened. Not for long, though.

Two blasphemous creatures slowly descended upon the two of them and started circling around. They were dressed in tattered dark robes and were floating! Harry's instincts were crying as loud as possible to get the hell away from there. But somehow, he couldn't find the energy to run away. This was because a distant voice had started ringing inside his head.

 _Not Harry! Please, take me instead!_

It was quite obvious that the silvery smoke was the only thing that was stopping the two of the creatures from coming too close.

Even Professor Timber, the one behind the flimsy defense was starting to get incapacitated. Harry could see it in her straining face that she was giving her all just to hold the shield in place.

"I-I'm so sorry Mr. Potter," She was sobbing now, "I n-never thought… Dementors… It's the only charm I couldn't master… if only…"

She was getting more and more incoherent. This wouldn't do. The silver smoke was thinning out. Harry knew that nothing good would come once the creatures made full contact with the two of them.

The sound, had now become more clear. In his desperation, Harry tried the only thing that he had been practicing all this time.

 _Shadow Clone Jutsu!_

Two perfect Harry Potter clones materialized in front of him with a pop. It was a testament to how much stress Professor Timbers was under that she didn't even notice what had happened.

The two clones instantly burst into action and began a barrage of punches and kicks at the creature. To Harry's utter horror, the physical attacks just passed through them as if they were Genjutsu.

"Chakra! Use Chakra!" Harry cried in a moment of inspiration to the clones.

The Dementors were sufficiently distracted by two new targets and were chasing them around. The clones, having heard Harry's voice, gathered chakra in their fist and jumped at their pursuer.

There was a contact! A relief washed over Harry for an instant but passed off as quickly as it came. The creature was unperturbed. Sure it got pushed back by the attack but it had taken no damage at all!

Recovering from the futile punch, the creature had quickly captured the clone and had, strangely, kissed it!

Pop! With a smoke the clone vanished. Similar thing happened to another clone too. The remaining creature had managed to capture it and had kissed it too.

Were it not for the severity of the situation, it was perfectly acceptable for Harry to fly into rage towards the creatures who had forever spoiled his first kiss.

By now, Professor Timbers had already fainted and had taken whatever protection she had managed along with her.

This was trouble, Harry realised. His limit for the Shadow Clones was already reached. He did what perhaps he should have done from the very start.

He scooped up the fallen Professor Timbers and ran like his life depended on it. He weaved through the forest at an impossible speed, jumping over the fallen branches and side stepping through the random trees that happened on his path.

The creatures were close behind. They seemed to phase through the trees and the branches because whatever Harry did, he just couldn't lose them.

Inch by inch the creatures were closing the gap between the two and Harry was now really starting to get worried. The voices were coming back, faintly at first and then progressively getting louder.

 _Just a bit!_ He thought to himself. The trees were starting to thin out and the Hogwarts ground was now visible. If only he could maintain the same gap, he would be safely inside the castle in no time.

With a WHAM he crashed into the tree. One of those unholy creatures had touched Harry which had resulted in him losing balance and hence the crash.

Harry blinked. He registered several things. First of all, he was propped against a tree. Second, Professor Timbers was lying face down beside him at a certain distance. The third, and perhaps the one that should probably have been the first, was that a creature was about to kiss him.

That realization brought along with it the noises.

 _No! Not Harry! Please! Please!_

With its decayed hands, the creature lifted his face up and brought its… whatever it was because it most certainly wasn't a face… near him. The noises were overwhelming. His heart sank. It felt so cold and so so sad. Harry realized in that instance that he will never really be happy ever again. This was how he was going to die. In the middle of a god forsaken forest, through the hands of a god forsaken creature and with his heart filled with misery and shrieks of a woman whom he didn't really know. Yes, he was really going to die.

Strangely, this was not a new feeling to him. He had felt this same way when coming in between Ginny Weasley and that Basilisk. Thank god his sensei had been there to save him!

 _Sensei!_

Harry blinked again. That single image of a kind old man who had been his first true friend and family dispelled all the negativity at once. He found courage in that moment and suddenly drew upon the most amount of Chakra than he had ever truly done before.

With that Chakra and Courage now coursing through his system he pushed that creature (who almost had its _face_ upon his) with his left hand lightly and then immediately swung his right hand with extreme prejudice.

With an unholy shriek, the creature was blown away. Harry got up. Another one was descending upon him unaffected by its partner's fate. Letting go of all his inhibitions, Harry delivered a fury (and Chakra) packed kick to blow away that one too.

Like before, however, the creatures had taken no significant damage. They had quickly recovered and had started ganging up on him once again.

 _Think,_ He reminded himself, _Underneath the underneath,_ like his sensei always said.

Punches and kicks phased through if they were not laced through chakra. But even chakra couldn't deal proper damage. What else then? What else did he have on him?

And it struck him.

SWORD !

Harry yelled. Embarrassingly enough, he didn't remember what the sword was named. That didn't matter though. The sword Kusanagi answered his call still. He could feel its weight on his right hand.

The creatures were taken aback for a moment, almost as if sensing the danger behind that sword. But, hunger took over and they disregarded that threatening aura from the sword to jump upon their prey.

Harry was oddly calm. With the sword on his hand, he felt invincible. He ran at the approaching creatures. And just when he was in front of one of them, he jumped. Rolling in mid-air, he drew the sword over his head in a piercing motion and stabbed it at the top of the creature's hood.

There was contact, yes. And there was sound. A very satisfying sound of the shrieks of the nightmarish creature. Finally, it was in pain. He landed, pulling the sword along with him, and swiftly maintained a distance. Looking back, he could see the creature thrashing where it stood.

Just before Harry could properly celebrate his victory, however, the sword was knocked apart from his hand!

Quickly turning backwards, he found that the remaining creature was behind him. With no sword in his hand, just when he was thinking of ways to evade it, a blinding silver object swooped upon the two. The two creatures shrieked once again in unison before they were blown away so far that Harry could've almost whistled.

The chill was instantly dispelled. Harry registered that silvery object to be a bird, a phoenix to be precise. And accompanying it was Professor Dumbledore. A worried and incensed Professor Dumbledore.

"Harry! Are you alright?" he asked.

"Oh yes proffe-"

He fainted.


	14. Goukakyuu no Jutsu

Harry realised that he should probably invest a bit more in his wizarding studies. The two creatures that he had encountered were known as Dementors. There was a chapter on them in his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes that advised young wizards to run as fast as possible upon encounter. Yeah, it had been stupid of him to try and punch them but in his defense, they hadn't quite covered that chapter yet.

The plus point was that Hermione had started talking again. In between her sobs and hysterics, she managed to say just how sorry she was for everything and Harry's reminder that it just wasn't her fault did nothing to alleviate her worry.

The Hospital wing's stay was bad, but Ron and Hermione's occasional visit made it bearable. It also helped that he wasn't interrogated afterwards by the Professors. Mrs Timbers had apparently already conveyed the details to the Headmaster. All in all, it looked good. The episode with the Dementors was over, he had managed to earn 200 points for Gryffindors for his bravery (or foolishness, depended on whether you asked McGonagall or Snape), and his friends were speaking with him again. There was just a minor hiccup: his sensei.

"Remind me kid, just how many times have I told you that you are an idiot?"

"Err… Last I checked, it was 512 times sensei," Harry said.

"Make it 513 then. Because you really, truly are an idiot!" Sensei snapped at him.

His Sensei had sneaked inside the hospital ward without alerting Mrs Pomfrey and the castle wards. Harry wouldn't know what amazing feat this was until very later when he'd learn about wards and just how many of them were layered inside Hogwarts' hospital wing.

"One, you didn't run as soon as you knew that your attacks were useless against that Yin Demon. Two, you didn't keep the scroll with you that I'd given you and specifically told you to keep at your body at all times and three, what were you thinking going in close combat with that creature!"

His sensei, apparently knew everything about them.

"They are a mass of Yin Chakra. Condensed from negative emotions in a place where despair brews. It is nigh impossible to destroy them unless you can channel a lot of Yang Chakra. You mentioned that your Headmaster used some silvery bird to drive it away? Learn it at all cost. As you are, it is impossible to deal with them."

Harry nodded meekly. His Sensei sighed, "Look, kid, I think we've been going about this the wrong way. I had never really realised till now but you seem to be a trouble magnet. First year, you had that bad wizard who nearly killed you, second year, you had that massive snake and this year that Yin Demon. And you know what the worst part is? This year hasn't even ended yet!

"If you are to face with all these troubles, then there really is only one alternative. Learn as much as possible about them. From now on, we'll increase your training even more!"

Harry winced. This spelled trouble.

"But on top of that, you'll also focus on your magic. This is one thing that we've been neglecting. Had you known how to produce the magical defense against the creature, this wouldn't have happened."

It made sense. So absorbed was Harry in his physical and Chakra training that he had essentially ignored his Magic studies. Oh his clones went through the essays and the classes but only to cover the bare minimum.

"You mentioned your clones can do magic?" Sensei asked.

"Yes Sensei. But there's only one wand with me."

"Don't worry about it right now. For now, we'll focus on increasing the number of your Shadow Clones. It is time that you hit puberty. Once that happens, you'll go through a Chakra growth too and hence can manage more clones. Get them to study everything. All the spells, all the creatures, everything. Once we solve this problem with your clones and wands, we'll get on with the perfecting part.

"Alright then kid, that's that for today. Now you rest. And don't get yourself in too much trouble," Sense said and vanished with a puff of smoke.

The upcoming days were going to be hard, Harry thought. So much training and studying to do. Still, this thought did nothing to the smile that he had plastered on his face at the moment. His sensei loved him and worried about him... for today, this was enough.

* * *

His recovery had baffled the resident nurse. She wouldn't tell him but Harry thought that she was quite miffed at having to discharge him so early. Once he was out of the hospital wing, things quickly fell back to the normal pace.

Like his sensei had said, puberty had now triggered his Chakra growth. Harry could feel his powers growing steadily. Now that he had the twin seals, travelling to and from the Chamber was quite easy and he was starting to feel less dizzy in between the travels.

He had also started paying attention to his studies which Ron thought was quite barmy. Hermione though, understood. Ron and Hermione had been the only two apart from the Hogwarts staff who really knew what had transpired during Halloween night. As such, she was quite helpful when Harry asked her for private tutoring in the spells and the dark creatures.

Mrs Timbers, who was quite distraught at first, apologized to him again and again and he was frankly, at a loss at what to say. Regardless, the strict teacher now softened up towards him and was found giving him points for things as trivial as remembering to come to classes (5 points to Gryffindor for punctuality Mr. Potter). But what was really important was that she had agreed to give him some private classes.

* * *

"It's called a Patronus Charm, Mr. Potter", Professor Timber explained. The two of them were in the Defense class one fine Monday evening.

"It's also, unfortunately, not something that I am very good at," She said with a regretful expression. "You said that you saw a silvery bird, right? That was Headmaster's Patronus. This charm summons a guardian from within you. It is made up of a very pure aspect of magic: positive emotions. It is really the only thing that works against a Dementor.

"Now, the incantation is, _Expecto Patronum._ These are the wand motions."

Harry repeated her motions.

"Very good Mr. Potter. Now, think of the happiest memory that you have and go through this spell."

There were many different happy emotions that Harry could remember: his first broom flight, when he produced his first clone with his sensei, his Hogwarts train ride, when he had that picnic with his sensei, when he first met with Ron and Hermione, that one time when his sensei split and shared a popsicle with him. But the one that would always be his happiest memory was …

 _Believe me kid, you are not a freak._

"Expecto Patronum!" he yelled along with the wand motions.

The entire room lit up with a silver fire so bright that even Professor Timbers had to shield her eyes. Right there, in the middle of the room, stood a small fox licking its arms in all its glory. It looked around as if to inquire where it was and then trutted along towards Harry and started licking his face. Harry returned a dazzling smile in response.

* * *

Days went on. Harry stuck to his routine of training in the Chamber with his main body and studying independently and privately with Hermione with his clones. His Chakra had increased and had brought along with it additional Shadow Clones which again, added up in his studies.

Christmas came and went. The only highlight being a _Don't slack up!_ card from his sensei.

And suddenly, it was the end of terms!

It was a testament to his study efforts that Harry could proclaim that his History of Magic exams actually went pretty well. Well, Potions could still use some additional work but hey, at least Snape didn't had that _you messed up_ expression on his face when he had submitted that Shrinking Solution.

Harry supposed it was too much to ask for when he hoped for a stress free term after that particular encounter with the Dementors but sadly, it was not to be. The reason being a letter from Hagrid which said:

 _Got in a bit of trouble. Can you come and visit me this evening? No need to bring Ron and Hermione, they can't help and they'll only get worried. Oh, and bring your cloak!_

Harry decided to visit after all and also to not inform Ron and Hermione. If Hagrid said that they couldn't help, then perhaps it was wise to not worry them. Besides, the two of them were busy packing their trunks anyways.

He knocked on Hagrid's door and was immediately greeted by Hagrid. Harry knew at that very instant that things were wrong.

The eyes gave it away honestly. Hagrid's eyes would always beam with a pure smile whenever Harry and his friends came over to visit him. Right now, though, his eyes were dull and void of that joy.

"Hagrid, what happened? Are you alright?" Harry asked, worry evident in his voice.

"Come inside Harry," Hagrid said in a monotone and went to grab him.

Harry swiftly jumped backwards, landing with a backflip. He was on his guard instantaneously.

 _Petrificus Totalus!_

The voice had come from behind him and had taken him by surprise. Before he could even move to dodge it, he could already feel his body tightening, as if by an invisible rope.

"My, my, careful as always, aren't you Potter!?"

He couldn't identify that voice. It was somehow changed by some spell. The one whom the voice belonged to was cloaked in a black garb, it's face somehow hidden behind some kind of fog.

"I have many things to ask of you Potter. But first, let's move to a more comfortable location, shall we? You, mongrel," the person motioned to Hagrid, "carry him over and follow me."

Hagrid walked towards Harry in a robotic motion and swiftly carried him over his shoulders and started following the defense professor who had already started on towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Do you know why they say Hogwarts is the most secure place in Britain Mr. Potter? You wouldn't know, would you? This is the very problem with you Mudbloods, ignorance."

The voice was ranting now.

"Anyways, the wards of this place are so strong and so unique that I doubt even the ministry is so well protected. It's best to do no dark magic within the castle, the headmaster gets alerted you see. And no dark creatures are allowed inside too. That won't be a problem once we're outside its ward… which we will be, right about now!"

The leading figure turned around and asked, "isn't this the place where you're attacked by those Dementor?"

Harry's eyes went wide and tried to speak but couldn't make any sound.

"Oh how rude of me," the person waved it's wand and suddenly Harry found that he could speak.

"How do you know about the Dementors?" he asked.

The person laughed, "Oh you stupid little boy, it was I who summoned them in the first place!"

It removed the cloak that it was wearing only to reveal Mrs Timbers, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers.

"Told you didn't I?" She said, "No dark creatures can pass the wards of Hogwarts. Specially Dementors. There are many many defenses in place against it. That's why I had to deliberately bring you outside. Oh you wouldn't know how much trouble I had to go through. Saying just the right excuses to convince Snape to ask me to pick up the Demon's Delight. Summoning that Dementor over just outside the castle wards and most of all making it all seem like an accident."

She motioned Hagrid to put down Harry, which he did unceremoniously.

With a thud Harry dropped to the ground.

"What did you do to Hagrid!" Harry asked in an angry voice.

"Oh? This Half-Breed you mean? Imperiused him, always had that talent you see. It was quite hard though, his giant skin makes him somewhat resilient but slip him a special potion and his defenses drastically lowers.

"Now, we don't have much time. The feast will be in a short while and Dumbledore would definitely notice your absence. So first things first,"

She bent over him and started patting his body as if searching for something. Harry was a bit afraid and somewhat perplexed as to what she was doing.

"Aha, got it," She slipped her hands inside his robes and pulled both his invisibility cloak and his Holly wand outside. She put the cloak inside immediately and as for the wand, began looking towards it with interest.

Inspecting it with utmost care, she started talking to herself, "It was supposed to be Elder… Perhaps the name refers not to the wood and to the fact that it is senior to most wands? Doesn't look very old though..."

 _Diffindo!_

She barked the spell and the curse travelled straight towards Hagrid.

A long horizontal gash appeared on his body but Hagrid didn't even utter a single word of pain.

"Hagrid!" Harry exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing you barmy coot!"

"Shh… I'm testing out the supposedly most powerful wand of all times."

"That is just a normal wand!" Harry shouted. Blood was freely flowing out of Hagrid's injured body and it was very much possible that the crazy Professor would try something else at him.

"Do you take me for a fool Mr. Potter? You know, I had really thought that this was all just a legend. I mean, the Deathly Hallows? Sounds just like a fairy tale right? Imagine my surprise when I confiscated that cloak of yours. The Death's cloak, as I live and breathe!

"Do you know why I arranged that little encounter of yours with the Dementors? I never really intended to kill you. Just wanted to scare you really. I figured if I did things just right, I could increase our interactions with the excuse of teaching you that Patronus charm. Just to, you know, see if you had some other things of interests.

"But imagine my surprise, a corporeal Patronus on very first try!? No one is that good Potter. And that Patronus of yours, my oh my, I have never seen such a powerful display ever in my life. I was quite puzzled at first, you see, but then I realised, it was not you who was powerful, it was this wand instead."

This did it, that Professor had gone batshit insane, he concluded inwardly. But sadly, he couldn't do anything about it as his mobility was still bound.

"You also had that sword, no? The one which you summoned out of nowhere? Where is it? Bring me that sword over!"

"I don't have any sword," Harry denied.

"Nonsense, I saw it myself, you used that sword to pierce the Dementor. I have never heard of any weapon capable of doing that. You don't want to give me, then? Doesn't matter, opinions can be changed pretty easily, _Imperio!"_

A very warm and comfortable sensation washed over Harry. It was as if he could drown in it comfortably for the rest of his life.

"Now Potter, _Finite,_ see you can move now. Alright, get me that sword."

Sword? Harry thought about it and was pretty soon greeted by its weight in his hand.

"Yes, that's it, now hand it over," Timbers said with a maniacal gleam in her eyes, "Oh, the things I would get in return! Death's cloak, elder wand and this sword. Too bad I don't have the stone also… but doesn't matter, yes, yes, Mr. Potter, give me that sword,"

 _Just give her the sword, and you can continue being in this wonderful sensation,_ a voice was compelling Harry.

 _But I can't be this way forever, I've got to go and train, Sensei would be mad, besides, the sword is mine,_ another voice argued.

The inner dilemma raging inside Harry was countering the effects of Imperius. Timbers, seeing that Harry wasn't moving fast enough, couldn't contain herself. She went ahead and snatched the sword from his hands.

Just as she held the sword and was admiring it, a very curious thing happened. The sword bent itself and slashed the wrist with which she was holding it, nearly slicing it apart.

With a pained shriek, she let go of both her sword and her magic which resulted in two things simultaneously.

One, Hagrid was freed from the Imperius and at once bellowed, "Are ya alright Harry!?"

And two, Professor Timbers found herself flying… (what?)

Harry had also found himself free from that sickeningly comfortable feeling and without even wasting a single breath went and delivered a perfect kick to the professor's torso, hence the unceremonious flight.

"Hagrid!" Harry noticed the still bloody Hagrid and ran towards him to make sure that he was alright.

"I'm so sorry Harry! That witch took me by surprise, should 'ave been more careful an all," Hagrid said.

"Don't talk Hagrid, let's first get out of here and get you to Madam Pomfrey."

It was a good plan really barring a single small problem,

"Dementors!"

It was Hagrid who noticed it first.

"Run away Harry! Go!" Hagrid pushed him with all his strength.

"No! I can't leave you Hagrid. Come on, let's go together," Harry offered.

"No 'arry, can't outrun em. Go to the castle. Call Dumbledore. Run!"

Immediately after he had said that, Hagrid went pale. He curled up like an infant and began sobbing uncontrollably.

This was trouble, Harry knew. He couldn't fight the Dementors as he had no wand. As for the sword, as soon as he gave it a thought, the sword came flying towards him which he grabbed the hilt of comfortably.

Harry was more or less ready to fend off a few dementors like he had done before… except, there weren't just a few dementors this time. There were dozens of them!

As soon as he settled into a position, a scathing purple beam of magic nearly made contact with him. He barely managed to dodge that.

"I will kill you Potter!" She shrieked as she launched into hysterical magic throwing fit.

Harry managed to dodge all of them with his acrobatic maneuvers and perhaps would have tried to close distance on her to bring the fight closer but the Dementors were already closing in.

Harry gathered his strength and threw the sword Kusanagi with all his might towards the professor.

His aim was true but she brushed it off by a simple banisher.

"No wand, and no sword. Can't fight me now, can you Potter? You should have been obedient in the first place!"

Madness gleamed in her eyes as she took steps forward towards Harry. The Dementors were circling the three of them as if waiting for some kind of command.

"You know, you barmy bint," Harry said in a threatening tone.

He weaved his finger togethers in a practiced fashion.

 _Snake Ram Monkey Boar Horse Tiger_

"I don't need my wand to do magic."

 **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**

A huge fireball assaulted the still advancing Professor Timbers who was perplexed upon the sight of the boy breathing fire from his mouth. She couldn't react in time. In fact, she couldn't even scream as the fireball engulfed her and burned her to death instantly, looks of disbelief still plastered in her now burnt and very much dead face.

"And as for you lot," Harry swiftly picked the Holly wand from the dead professors' hand. It had also suffered some burns but was overall quite intact.

Summoning his happiest memory (which proved to be a bit difficult as he was still immensely angry), he shouted at the top of his lungs

 **Expecto Patronum!**

The silver fox descended in all its glory and instantly charged at the surrounding Dementors blasting them similar to how Dumbledore's phoenix had blasted the previous two.

The patronus, after doing its duty, came by Harry's site and looked at him as if wishing for a pat.

With both the Professor and the Dementors out of the way, he remembered that Hagrid was still lying out there, bleeding very badly.

Hagrid's injured, Professor Dumbledore needs to be informed, Harry thought to himself. His fox patronus, as if understanding the command bolted towards the castle in great speed. And a few seconds afterwards, with an audible *pop* Dumbledore appeared.


	15. Shunshin no Jutsu

The short vacation between the end of the term and the start of the new one always spelled trouble for Harry. Trouble not in the sense that he was put under any seriously life threatening situation like Dementors and evil Defense Against the Dark Arts professors. Rather, trouble around these times came in the form of his sensei and his serious motivations.

"Stop zapping me," Harry said with an aggression that he could barely muster. He had been constantly running, evading and deflecting with Kusanagi, the myriads of shurikens, kunais and all sorts of god-knows-what instruments of deaths thrown by his sensei while bearing harsh body weights upon himself.

His sensei entirely dismissed his complaints and redoubled his efforts. Finally, when he could bear no longer, Harry collapsed under the stress of the being on his feet for more than ten hours while carrying all those weights.

"All right, short break then," sensei said while jumping off from the stone he was sitting on.

The duo were currently in some location which was unknown to Harry. From the looks of it, this seemed to be some kind of valley still untouched by the perturbations of mankind. There was a waterfall at the side whence river flowed at a gentle pace. Greenery surrounded the clearing where the two of them were currently at. The overall scene was quite picturesque.

"How do you do that anyway?" Harry asked, "You know, that zapping thing with your finger. I can't even dodge it!"

Despite all his protests, his sensei's efforts were starting to show. Harry was rapidly developing an environmental awareness and oftentimes, barely a whooshing of air was enough to alert him about incoming projectiles. His dodging rate had remarkably improved and thanks to the body weights, so had his stamina.

"It's known as Elemental manipulation," sensei said while sitting at the lying boy's side and healing him.

"The katon jutsu you used..." sensei saw Harry's puzzled looks, "I mean the fireball one."

A look of understanding surfaced on his face while his sensei muttered something like _summons such a huge fireball and doesn't even know what katon means._

"That jutsu is an elemental jutsu. Obviously, the element it associates with is fire. Now, watch closely,"

His sensei jumped on the nearby river and performed hand seals at a speed which even Harry couldn't even fathom.

 **Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu**

Immediately afterwards, the water from river rose and congealed into the shape of a Dragon. This dragon was remarkably different than the one in Harry's Care of Magical Creatures books. For one, it had mustache (how the hell does a dragon even have a mustache?).

It's appearance didn't matter though. Very soon, the water dragon was in motion, charging with a vengeance at the nearby tree and obliterating it in but an instant.

His sensei vanished from the place and reappeared where he was via a Shunshin.

"Now that was a jutsu of the water element. It's known as Water Dragon jutsu. Speaking about the elemental jutsus, I think it's time that we explored what your elements are. Judging from the ease with which you grasped the Gouukyaku no Jutsu, fire seems to be your thing but let's just be sure."

Sensei gave Harry, who had now propped up, a thin piece of paper and asked him to channel his Chakra through it. As soon as he had complied, the paper indeed burst up in flames.

"Well, fire it is then," sensei said.

Harry, though, was visibly sad. He turned backwards and started drawing circles on ground while muttering something ineligible.

"What was that?" Sensei asked.

"I-I wanted to have lightning too," he said.

"What? You wanted to zap me or something?"

That thought might or might not have crossed his mind at some point. But he sure wasn't going to confess it out loud.

"No, it just seems cool you know," he said.

Sensei sighed. Young kids these days only had eyes for cool stuffs. Forget about how destructive fire could be, he just had to want to be flashy.

"Look, kid, fire is an incredible element. It is a source of life and energy and also an instrument of destruction. Believe me, your enemies will be very sorry once you've mastered this element. Besides, it's not as if you can't do jutsus of other nature just because yours is fire. It will just take double the amount of effort for the required manipulation."

Well, an entirely satisfying logic from his sense. Still …

"Fine fine!" sensei said after noticing his still brooding disciple, "For now, we'll just focus on your main element alright? Later, perhaps I'll also teach you some lighting jutsus."

Knowing that this wasn't enough to convince the other, sensei also magnanimously added, "Meanwhile, let's do this. Remember how you're always pestering me to teach the Shunshin?"

Harry's eyes lit up! Was his sensei going to say what he thought he was going to say?

"Let's learn that, how about it?"

Harry jumped up in delight.

* * *

"So? What really happened mate?" Ron asked with a tact that he was not used to.

Ron, Hermione and Harry were making their way towards the portkey site from where they would be able to go and watch the International Quidditch Finale, courtesy of Ron's dad.

The three of them had fallen behind the pace which now that Harry thought was perhaps pre-agreed upon by Ron and Hermione so as to talk about the events at the end of the term.

"Dumbledore didn't tell any of us anything other than the fact that Hagrid was injured and that you had found him," Hermione added.

Harry had already wanted to tell the two of them everything. Just that after that night, Dumbledore had personally taken him along in a side-along apparition to his home avoiding the Hogwarts' express. Immediately after that, his sensei had told him about the new training location and how he was to tell his friends that he would be unavailable for the rest of the holidays so not to send him any owls.

Both Hermione and Ron were his closest friends so he had no intention of leaving them in the dark. Thus, he narrated the event exactly as he had done to Dumbledore.

He told them about how it all began with Hagrid's letter, escalated with a hooded figure body binding him and imperiusing Hagrid (both Ron and Hermione gasped. Hermione had read about Imperius and Ron had heard about it from his father) and how Professor Timbers was behind it all ("That bloody bint!" "Ronald! Language!").

Harry continued explaining about how the professor had wanted to rob him of his invisibility robe (he conveniently left out the sword and his wand part) and how she had put him in imperius (Ron cursed again, much fouler this time but Hermione didn't say anything. See was seething as well).

When he came to the point where he fought off the imperius and banished the professor to the nearby tree, Ron actually hooted. But, when the dementors made an entrance in his story, both of his friends were horrified. Harry explained how, in a moment of desperation, he had used the incendio charm and hadn't actually meant to burn the professor to death but did indeed, Hermione threw herself at him in a mothering hug.

"Oh Harry! This is so horrible. But please don't feel bad Harry, you did what you had to do. You didn't mean to kill her, it was an accident."

"Yeah mate, the hag had it coming I'd say. But still, it was an accident. Not like you really meant to kill her or something. Don't take it too hard on yourself alright?" Ron added.

His two friends worried about him. This was quite evident from the fact that they were trying to convince him that he was not actually a bad person for killing her in an accident.

Well, it was perhaps true that he was not really a bad person. But, he had killed her in vengeance, not accident. Still, his friends need not know.

Harry smiled and continued on with his story and ended it up with a promise to Hermione that he'd teach her the Patronus charm.

The portkey point had arrived. All of them were going to watch the Quidditch games in a happy spirit and for now, everything was good.

 _Dear god, please let this year be normal. Please oh please._ Harry pleaded inwardly. There was a deep thunder from a faraway distance that vaguely sounded like someone laughing.

* * *

Harry felt quite confident these days. He was strong and that knowledge had manifested in himself as a carefree and bold attitude. Much like a true Gryffindor. However, all of that daring, that courage and that Gryffindor attitude leapt out of the window as soon as he laid his eyes on her.

She was a girl of such breathtaking beauty that he would suddenly feel difficult to draw a breath whenever he'd lay his eyes upon her. She was tall and willowy with long blonde flowing hair and appeared to emanate some sort of aura around her.

The first time he'd seen her was when he, along with Ron and Hermione, had gone to fetch water. Their first meeting had not been so well.

Harry, with a dazed look, had went up to her and loudly proclaimed, "I can breathe fire from my mouth. Like a dragon!"

The disdain and exasperation on her face had been quite the kicker.

Had there not been 4 or 5 other young wizards (including Ron) doing the same thing around her, he would have already killed himself out of the shame.

The worst part was that Hermione wouldn't let that matter rest. She was often heard telling Mr. Weasley that he need not light the fireplace anymore because Harry can breathe fire from his mouth… like a dragon.

His second encounter with the said girl didn't fare any better. This was during the time when they were queuing to get inside the stadium. The girl was, apparently, someone special as she was allowed to skip the line and was being accompanied by other important (and angry) looking wizards.

This time, Harry had abandoned the queue to come in front of her and had told her about how he had a sword that could grow long or short at his whim.

Well, that certainly had not gone quite so well. While his Kusanagi could indeed change its length at will (as he'd found out later), the wizards surrounding the girl had no way to know. Just when they were about to hex his bits off. He was saved in time by the appearance of the British Minister of Magic. And while the entire episode had been quite unfortunate, Harry thought he'd noticed a small smile at the girl's face at the end.

And now, this was the third time that he was encountering the same girl. He had been returning back towards the campsite after a very interesting Quidditch finale along with the Weasleys and Hermione when the two groups met. The latter group being the same girl surrounded by the same important yet angry looking wizards.

 _This time, no foolishness,_ he thought to himself.

The girl, too, caught his eyes. Her deep blue eyes were so enchanting that his earlier resolve dissipated just like that and he was already finding himself walking towards the girl before he knew what he was doing. Merlin knew what he would have said this time around had both Fred and George not restrained him in time.

The girl threw a very cold look towards the still allure ridden Harry and walked along without giving him any further notice. Once Harry snapped out of the irresistible temptation to brag loudly in front of that girl, he thanked the Weasley twins immensely and promised them a round of butterbeers some time.

* * *

As it always so happens, it happened this time too. He snapped his eyes open at the first sign of unusual explosions. Sleep left Harry in such a speed that would even make Aurors jealous as he swiftly ran outside to see just what the hell was going on. As it so happened, Mr. Weasley along with Bill had not been asleep and had been equally alarmed by the sudden commotion outside.

"Harry! Stay inside, we'll see what's happening outside," Mr. Weasley said in a worried tone as he took his eldest son outside along with him. The two of them returned shortly afterwards and Mr. Weasley said in a very worried tone.

"Harry, go wake up the others. This place is not safe. All of you need to run to safe place."

After they woke up the others, Harry along with Ron, Weasley twins, Hermione and Ginny made way to safety.

Just as the six of them left their camp, it was burnt down into cinders by a huge Dragon made of fire.

"""Fiend Fyre !"""

People all around began to exclaim in utmost alarm.

Apparently that meant something really bad because a huge stampede started with people running left and right while screaming at the top of their lungs.

Unfortunately, this commotion ended up separating Harry from other of his friends. Harry moved along with the crowd, hoping to reunite with his friends in the already agreed upon safe place. However, the flow of the crowd brought him to the outskirts of the campsite. Tired of being pushed around, Harry moved out of the crowd and into the forest to recuperate and make better sense of what was happening.

It was very much possible that Ron and the rest of the gang had split up even further in that commotion. Besides, people were still very much running around like headless chickens. Thus, it was unwise to go look for them right now, he concluded.

Just then, a loud scream broke his musings. This was the scream of a girl and it was coming from someplace very near. Harry was already making his way towards whence the scream had come from. When he reached there, a very terrible sight welcomed him.

Lying in the ground, surrounded by four dead bodies in a pool of blood was that same girl who had somehow bewitched him every time he laid his eyes upon her. She was terrified. Clutching wands in her outstretched hands, she was pointing it towards a pack of wolves.

 _No,_ _ **werewolves**_ _,_ Harry thought.

This was odd. This night was not of the full moon and it was supposed to be impossible to see a transformed werewolf without full moon. Still, there they were, circling her, baring their fangs and poised to shred every bit of her into tiny pieces.

* * *

She was scared. All she remembered was being woken up abruptly from her dreams about hexing that annoying boy from earlier for that comment about his sword (and she'd laughed at it! How crass of her!). Her bodyguards had then surrounded her and hastily escorted her out of all that explosion and commotion and towards the end of the anti-apparition wards so as to escape from there. But, before they had reached the boundary of the wards, they had been attacked by a pack of Werewolves.

Her bodyguards had tried defending her. Throwing off the attacks aimed at her and cursing the creatures left and right. Unfortunately, though, the werewolves were too many in number and all four of the brave men had crumbled under their attacks.

Thus she found herself surrounded by the pack of the wolves. They didn't immediately attack her. This was weird. The wolves apparently had some sort of structure. The largest one on the front seemed to be the alpha. All of the others were continuously looking at that particular wolf as if asking for permission. Finally, the alpha bared its teeth and it happened.

One of the wolves abruptly jumped at her but she kept her wits about her and tried subverting him with the Banisher. It only worked slightly as the course of the wolf's jump only deviated by a small angle and it narrowly missed her.

Another wolf also jumped at her, snarling in an animalistic fashion. She hastily moved out of its way but was slightly touched by the animal's claw. Her favorite duck patterned pyjamas was neatly sliced apart exposing the skin underneath.

Another wolf lunged at her. She had still not recovered from that earlier attack and she would have most certainly died... but for the appearance of a person.

He was carrying a sword, she noticed at first. There was also some blood on that sword, she noticed it second. And the last thing she noticed was that the wolf that had lunged at her, had now its head missing from its torso.

" **Down, all of you,** " the boy said in a very threatening tone which even managed to chill her own heart.

The wolves were stunned at first and then then suddenly very angry. All of them howled in great fury as the animals began snarling and baring their fangs at the newcomer.

" **Fine, then,** " the boy said.

He had been standing in front of the her with his back facing towards her. She had not seen who he was and yet his frame felt familiar. Regardless, she was delirious with shock and weakness and even if the boy had turned around, she doubted that she would recognize him.

Additionally, she realised that her condition was rapidly deteriorating because she had now started hallucinating.

It appeared to her as if the boy was disappearing from one place and reappearing at another and dancing around the werewolves while cleanly slicing the head off of a random unfortunate beast. But surely that was impossible? Disapparating or Apparating inside the wards was out of the question. Yep, she was hallucinating.

The beasts were now falling down in great numbers in a most pitiful fashion. This inspired great confusion (and some mixed delight) in her and a great fear in the pack. No longer were they barking and snarling. They were now whining as if asking for mercy.

The boy, though, had no intention of leaving any of them alive. He was just as fast, just as deadly and just as ruthless as he had been the entire time. It was so ridiculous, thought the girl, that she hadn't even managed to get a clear look at him after all his jumping around. Such was his speed that the only thing she would notice was the falling of the occasional head followed by the spurting of the blood.

Finally, only one creature remained, the alpha.

In front of her very eyes, the alpha changed back into a naked man. Now this also seemed to be a hallucination. A werewolf changing back by itself?

"Please, mercy!" the man raised his hands up and got down on the ground.

A sword quickly came to rest upon the neck of the man who was now weeping pitifully out of the fear of his imminent death.

" **How did you change despite it not being full moon?"** The boy asked the still whimpering man.

"I-I'll tell everything! Please please don't kill me. It was a potion given to us by-"

Two things had happened before the man managed to confess. One, the boy had abruptly jumped back to a distance and second, a sickeningly green bolt of green light had struck the werewolf in human form. It was most certainly the Killing Curse.

The boy immediately appeared in front of the girl and picked her up and immediately hid behind a tree. He was pressed against her with her back against the tree. The boy was peeking over her shoulder as he was still trying to see just where the magic had come from and thus his face was still hidden from her view.

"Who are you?" the girl asked in barely a whisper.

The boy didn't reply.

Just then, a magic was cast at where the duo had previously been.

 _ **Morsmodre!**_

A giant skull formed up in the sky with a menacing snake protruding out from its mouth. Along with that came the aurors with various pops. Apparently, the Anti-Disapparition wards were down now.

"Drop your wands! You, back off the girl and turn around slowly," one of the aurors barked at him.

"Way to spoil the fun," the boy whispered which only she could hear, "Next time then, princess," she heard the boy say and then disappear. Not before she felt him giving her a light peck on her cheeks.

"Where did he go! Catch him. Kingsley that way!" Aurors started barking commands at each other.

Meanwhile, she stood there in a daze, feeling the place where the boy had pecked her. A female auror came near her and asked in a worrying tone,

"Miss Delacour, mam, are you alright?"


	16. Purple

It was nigh impossible to convince the Weasleys otherwise when the entire family pretty much coerced him to stay over the rest of the summer. The attack had scared the entire Wizarding Britain and there had also been some unconfirmed rumors about the sightings of Werewolves at the Quidditch Finale. Obviously, the fact that the night hadn't been a full moon one made that a very bad rumor but young Harry knew better.

The rest of the holidays passed way too painfully for Harry. He found himself constantly thinking about that girl who apparently had been the daughter of the French Ambassador according to Mr. Weasley and also a Veela according to Hermione.

September 1st came and Harry was finally inside the castle which meant that he could now finally talk with his sensei about the entire matter. The start of term feast had something about cancelling Quidditch (which didn't really bother him, he'd been sending his clones on the games and training since forever) and also a Tri-Wizard Tournament, whatever that was about?

There also had been that suspicious defense against the dark arts teacher Alastor Moody but after Ron said that he'd been an ex Auror and had catched perhaps the most number of Dark Wizards in Azkaban, Harry put himself at ease.

When the feast ended, it was time to finally meet his sensei. Harry activated the twin seal and disappeared to the Chamber.

* * *

"You did what?" his sensei asked incredulously.

"I said," Harry sighed, "I kind of kissed her."

His sensei still had that look about him which said, _explain._

"I-I was so mad at her, you know. I mean, there I would be, standing perfectly fine by myself and the moment she comes by I become dumb and reckless. So after the aurors appeared, I-I don't know what came over and I…" he sighed again.

"Listen, kid," sensei said, "While being mad at a girl is not really a reason to kiss her, not a good one anyway, I don't think you should beat yourself over it. Now let this matter rest. What I am much more interested in is if the girl or those wizards recognized you. It would only bring trouble to you if you were known to possess an unknown power. Your enemies are still at large and it wouldn't do good to attract new ones."

"No, sensei, I had changed my voice by henge jutsu and I sunshinned away before they had a chance to recognize me."

"Very good then," sensei said with relief.

With that incident now already talked about, it was time for Harry to ask what he was dying to ask his sensei for the past few days.

"Sensei! Sensei! What will you teach me next?" Harry started in excitement, "Kuchiyose? No, wait, Raikiri! Or or Rasengan !"

His sensei gave a very warm smile at him, "Forget about those mundane things my dear disciple. Today we will learn about things much more interesting. You mentioned how you liked that girl right? Good good, it's time now. Alright, today we shall learn about the Bird and the Bees."

Harry was perplexed about the sudden zoology lessons at first but by the time the lesson ended, he was a very deep shade of red and was practically begging his sensei to stop… which he did, but not until Harry's ears were bleeding.

* * *

"No, you shall absolutely not take part in that foolish competition," the man said.

"You can't stop me papa," the girl, who was lazily reading a wizarding robes selection catalogue, looked up above at the man and said in a carefree tone.

The said man's name was Idunno Delacour and the girl was his daughter, a Fleur Delacour.

"Apolline, say something to your daughter will you?" the man looked towards another woman lying cozily in the couch in desperation.

The woman, Apolline, said in earnest, "I don't want her to go too, honey, but she is a very headstrong girl and there is a chance that she'd run away to Britain if we were to be too strict with her. Why not let her go anyways? I have heard many good things about Headmaster Dumbledore. Surely she will be well protected in his castle?"

"But-"

The man's complaints were cut short by the entrance of a little girl.

"Oh let her go papa," she strutted inside the room and sat directly on top of her father's lap, "Even if Fleur is in some trouble, her swordsman will surely save her."

This little girl who was sighing in some kind of imaginary romance was Gabrielle Delacour, Fleur's little sister. Her dreamy words were met with a pillow in her face, from her elder sister.

"Don't tease your sister, Gabrielle," Apolline said in an irritated voice.

"But it's true mama! He did save her, did he not? When the bad wolves attacked Fleur he came to her rescue. And he also stole her first kiss," she sighed dreamily again.

 _Ahem_

Idunno Delacour coughed lightly.

"What's this about stealing kisses Fleur? Did you perhaps leave any part out of your eyewitness account?"

Fleur became red. She had indeed not talked about that particular incident.

"It's nothing Papa, Gabrielle has just been watching too many romantic dramas is all. Mama is to be blamed for this."

Apolline shot an incredulous (and a little betrayed) look at her daughter _._

"Yes, well, it's nothing short of a blessing that you are with me, Fleur," her father started in a gentle tone.

"To even think if that savior had not been there, brings such a dread in my heart my sweetheart. I nearly lost you that night, and yet you insist on participating in such a dangerous competition? Why are troubling your father like this?" Idunno said earnestly.

"Papa," Fleur came close to her father and hugged her, "How could I possible make trouble for you? Don't you say that I am the most well-behaved in this family out of all the ladies? (Both Gabrielle and Apolline protested). To be selected in Tri-Wizard Tournament is a thing of great honor Papa. I wish to win that tournament and bring that honor to us. To you."

"I don't want honor, my dear Fleur, I only want my family's safety," said Idunno and hugged his daughter.

There was a comfortable silence in the air before Idunno started,

"Alright, since you have already decided then so be it. You shall participate. But, you must absolutely agree to my one condition." he added.

 _This can't possibly be any good._ Fleur thought.

"You will agree to have a bodyguard by your side at all times." Idunno said with authority.

"But papa!" Fleur cried out. It had already been such a great hassle to have been surrounded by angry looking wizards in the Quidditch Competition finals. But that at least had been a public event at a public place. But Hogwarts was a school! How weird will she look if she were to be followed at all times by a burly looking wizard in a school?

"No ifs and no buts. I will not budge even an inch from my decision," Idunno said.

Both Gabrielle and Apolline were looking at the arguing father and daughter duo with great interest. Finally, when things began escalating, Apolline offered a suggestion.

"It needn't be an adult for that matter. There are so many young wizards who are exceptionally gifted in the art of defensive magic, isn't that right Idunno?"

"Y-Yes of course!" Idunno agreed, "It doesn't need to be an adult if you are uncomfortable, we'll find you a young witch who can be at your side at all times. Fleur, my darling, please agree to this one request by your father? It shall put us all at ease if you will concede."

Seeing that she had no other way than to accede to the request, Fleur hesitantly agreed. Both Idunno and Apolline were somewhat relieved while Gabrielle was still sighing in a dreamy fashion.

* * *

"Remind me sensei, what are we doing in France again?" Harry asked in somewhat exasperated fashion.

The two of them had been roaming the streets of Paris aimlessly since an hour. Whenever Harry asked his sensei about just what in the name of Merlin was he looking for, sensei would only shrug and tell him to follow his lead which, of course, lead the two of them nowhere.

"We are here to solve the trouble with your wand. You remember how you mentioned about the duplication of your wand via Shadow Clone jutsu couldn't actually duplicate the wand core?"

"Yes.." Harry agreed.

"Well, I did some research about it. It seems that there is some sort of magic known to specific French communities that allows you to apply some Gemini charm to a wand. While I don't really know the details about the Gemini charm, I know enough to understand that it kind of duplicates the wand core in such a fashion that the duplicated wand, too, is capable of doing magic. At least that wandmaker told me so."

Harry was not ashamed to admit that most of the things that his sensei talked about actually flew over his head.

In any case, he was treating this journey as a kind of vacation. His clones were covering his classes and his studies at Hogwarts and with the chakra reserves that he had right now, sustaining them was not really a problem for him anymore.

Harry was overall in a good mood, roaming new places with his sensei was fun. Specially because all the French wizards were giving his sensei a weird look. It was kinda fun to watch.

Just then, his attention was promptly captivated by a big poster plastered in the walls of one of the shops. The poster was an advertisement of some brand of wizarding robes. But that fact was not important. What was much more important was the picture in that poster.

 _Fleur Delacour_

Harry abruptly stopped in his tracks and moved closer to admire the painting. The picture in the poster adjusted her robes and gave such a stunning pose that Harry found himself lost in the allure of the picture itself.

"This is the Delacour girl you were talking about right?" sensei said.

Harry nodded foolishly.

"Ah, can't fault your taste. Quite the looker, she is."

Just as the duo were admiring the portrait, one more keenly than the other, a bunch of girls gathered around and began speaking rapidly in French with each other.

Harry couldn't understand a single word of it but sensei apparently could because Harry observed some minute amusement in his face as the girls chattered about.

"My dear disciple, this seems to be your lucky day!" Sensei said once the girls departed.

Harry gave a puzzled look.

"What do you say to a chance of meeting the girl who has been making a fool out of you?"

"Fleur?" Harry said in surprise.

"Yes, apparently she is some bigshot fashion model or something and is hosting some kind of fan event for young witches."

Harry wanted to say no but by the time that thought came to him, he found himself already nodding enthusiastically. His sensei, as if knowing what had transpired gave a very slylaugh.

But there was a small problem.

"But isn't it only for witches?" Harry said.

His sensei gave a blank look at him.

"Tell me, kid, what use is all these jutsus that I teach you if you still ask me these kinds of idiotic questions?"

"Oh yeah, yeah, Henge Jutsu," Harry reminded himself, "But what form?"

His sensei thought for a moment, "Come with me," he said and the two of them made their way into a nearest alley.

 _Henge!_ Sensei transformed into a beautiful girl of approximately seventeen years old.

Harry also took in the details of the girl including the kind of clothing she wore, her facial structure and her hair color (what was that color anyways?) and promptly henged into her.

Sensei then transformed back and told Harry the name of the street where the event was going to take place. Apparently it was near to the place where the two were at.

"But what about the wand core problem?" Harry asked as he remembered just what the two of them were doing in France in the first place.

"Meh, I will go and search for it alone, you'll just be a hindrance anyways," Sensei said and started walking off.

 _Invites me out himself and now says I'll just be a hindrance,_ Harry grumbled but then thought, perhaps his sensei just wanted to spend some time with him? _Would be just like him to do that._

His sensei was nearly out of the alley when Harry remembered something, "Sensei! What should I name her?" he asked.

"Oh, just call her Sakura," Sensei said and walked out of the alley.


	17. Bodyguard

Now when his sensei said that Fleur Delacour was hosting some kind of fan event, Harry thought it would be something like autograph, book signings or something else of the sorts. Never could have he imagined that it would be a Duelling Contest instead.

It turned out that the winner would have the opportunity of being accompanied by the fashion icon herself to a shopping trip. Apparently this was quite the offer for the witches of France because the venue was very very crowded.

"Your name?" A stiff wizard asked the Harry turned Sakura.

"Err… Sakura," Harry replied.

The man muttered something about weird name but took her name all the same. There were multiple wizards in the venue doing the same thing to other queues of girls.

After the registration process was over, all of the girls, age ranging from seventeen to twenty five or even thirty were gathered up and the rules of the competition were explained.

It was indeed a duelling competition. And there were several groups formed. The only allowed spells were the standard duelling spells and the duel ended when one yielded, was incapacitated, disarmed or expelled from the boundary of the duelling ring. Simple enough.

Without much ado, the duel started. Most of the girls were novices, just throwing around the stunners and disarming charm randomly at each other. Some of them were accomplished. They had good aim and a very good sense of the overall duel. A handful of them, though, were extremely deadly. They would end up finishing the duel in less than two or three spells. It was quite frightening.

Harry, though, was taking it slow. He would let the opponent throw one or two spells, block it with protego and then retaliate by disarming them. His opponents were painfully slow but that didn't warrant extra attention (he already had a pink hair at the moment though). He was here just to maybe get a look at that infuriating girl again and maybe redeem himself by not losing his head this time around.

His first challenge came in the form of a raven haired girl of short stature. When the referee signaled the start of the duel, the girl had immediately started off with a powerful stunner. Were Harry not so agile as he was, he would have immediately succumbed to the stunner at his chest. Regardless, the girl was fast but he was faster. Dodging a chain spell by the girl, Harry swirled around in style and threw menacing stunners of his own. The girl was surprised by the gracefulness with which he had dodged her spells and the swiftness of his counter attacks. Nonetheless, she dodged the first stunner. Blocked another with a hasty protego (which crumbled immediately) and was taken out by the third one.

Those who had watched the duel in attention were quite intrigued. The spell casting and the overall performance of both sides had been marvellous. Among them, there was also a Fleur Delacour who had watched the duel with great care and was frowning by the end of the match.

* * *

"Who are you?" the raven hair girl asked him.

She was already enervated and immediately afterwards came around to look for the pink haired girl who had beaten her with such ease.

Harry, who was eating the tea and biscuits (since it was quite a time before his next performance), sputtered in surprise, "chhakura"

"What?" she asked incredulously.

"I mean, I am Sakura. Nice to meet you," he said politely. The girl was quite talented, and he respected her for that.

She was apparently taken off guard by his polite tone. All traces of hostility leaving her at once, she too adopted a similar tone, "I'm Sarah, from Beauxbaton. I'm originally from England though, hence no accent. You appear to be from there too."

"Y-yeah," he said, "I came here in a shopping trip with my father."

"Ohh… so you study at Hogwarts then?"

 _Yes,_ he would've said but thankfully he remembered that _Sakura_ actually didn't go to Hogwarts.

"No, I'm home-schooled," she lied easily.

"Oh, well, you are good. Seriously, no one can beat me in duelling except for Fleur herself, oh yea we are friends, so I'll cheering you on." She said and disappeared.

 _What an energetic girl,_ he marvelled inwardly. He finished his tea and biscuits and then went to the ring when they called his name.

If his previous opponent was fierce then this one was ruthless. This was a girl of remarkably burly features. Harry thought he saw stars on her eyes when the duelling referee once again reminded the audience about the shopping trip that was at stake. Whether she was smitten by Fleur or by the prospects of going on a shopping trip, he didn't't know. But one thing was certain, this was an immensely motivated girl.

A bludgeoning hex made its way towards Harry's pretty Sakura face which he dodged with considerable ease. Next a cutting curse came his way which Harry flicked away by a compact protego shield. She threw everything at him short of dark curses and while Harry wanted to retaliate and end things, her surprisingly relentless pursuit actually gave him a difficult time. Finally, deciding to end the nearly hysterical girls' attempts to maim him, Harry jumped up in mid air, dodging another bludgeoner. He twirled around, his body parallel to the ground and sent a strong Banisher to the girl out of vengeance. The girl was caught off guard, specially as she could not believe that someone could dodge spells in such a way, and was thrown out of the duelling ring, signalling Harry's victory.

"The victor of this round is Sakura !"

The referee announced and the cheers followed. The match had really been quite interesting and the crowd was starting to warm up to the strange asian looking girl with pink hair.

"Confringo!" Accompanying that shout was a spell bolt aimed straight at the unaware Harry. He dodged instinctively so as to move the maximum portion of his body out of the way but he needn't have done so. A blue shimmering shield had appeared in between the spell and Harry. The caster of the spell was none other than Fleur Delacour herself.

 _Expelliarmus! Petrificus Totalus!_

After two swift spell casting, Fleur subdued the girl which was carried out unceremoniously by the guards.

The crowd, who were stunned at first due to that unexpected event, abruptly erupted in cheers once again. Fleur Delacour had appeared in all her grandeur and she couldn't look less sexy even if she tried.

She turned around slowly at the still gaping Harry and said encouraging words in a very formal tone. Or at least Harry thought that they were encouraging words because she had spoken French and he had not understood even a single word of it.

Seeing the blank look on the girl's face, Fleur apparently deduced what had happened,

"I said that was wonderful spellcasting by you. You are quite agile and powerful for one such your age. Keep it up."

Harry could once again only gape and nod foolishly in response for a long time after Fleur had departed.

The match continued and at last, it was the finale. The finale was quite interesting. It was Harry vs a stern looking witch of older age. She was calm, composed, powerful and most of all, disciplined. Nothing Harry did seem to faze her. She would dodge by just the right angle, she would not over exert herself and present any gap to her opponent. And her defense was rock solid. This was a very difficult opponent for Harry.

 _Stupefy_

He cried out. His opponent merely swished her wand and a protego appeared. She then silently summoned a nearby chair and transfigured it midway to a ferocious snake which came at Harry baring its fangs.

Harry tried banishing the snake away but it was quite nimble and ended up dodging his spell. Meanwhile, spell barrage from that woman had already started.

* * *

"Remarkably talented, isn't she?" Idunno Delacour said to his daughter.

Their entire family had been closely following the duelling contest.

"She is so-so," Fleur said dismissively.

"She is amazing!" Gabrielle squeaked. The young witch had been cheering the pink haired contestant for a long time now, "Oh please papa, can she not be Fleur's bodyguard? Can she be mine? Please please please?"

"Hush Gabrielle," Apolline chided her little daughter. Then she said to Fleur, "But really Fleur, that girl is ferocious. The one she is duelling isn't just any ordinary witch as you know. It took incredible efforts for us to invite a world class dueller like Ivana and then convince her to polyjuice to a young body. If even she is at stalemate towards this girl then that speaks volume about her capabilities."

Fleur scoffed. Well, she did know that this girl was amazing. Even she herself was no match for her agility and presence of mind. While the girl demonstrated elementary spellcasting knowledge; using nothing more than stunners, banishers, protego and disarming charms, she was able to utilize these basic spells to the fullest and most of all, each of her spell packed incredible power.

And that was the very issue. Fleur was quite miffed at seeing someone her age outclassing her in such a fashion. And she was supposed to be the best of Beauxbaton! This wasn't even funny.

Just when she was about to argue with her Papa that no, this finalist, however talented she might be, was not going to be her bodyguard, something happened that completely took her by surprise. The pink haired girl, Sakura, disappeared from her place, appearing some place away and stunned a perplexed Ivana.

"Oh, looks like the anti-disapparating charm weakened and the girl made full use of it. Such magical perception, Fleur, she is best for the job!" Idunno stressed.

"Oh yes, father, she will become my bodyguard," Fleur agreed.

"No, you don't understand Fleur! She is the right age and has all the capabilities and training of a… wait, what did you say?"

"I said, my dear papa, that I want her, and only her, to be my bodyguard, no one else." Fleur said in a weird tone.

Idunno was quite delighted with the turn of events, however confusing they might be.

Idunno, Apolline, Gabrielle and even the organizers themselves, thought that the anti-apparating charm had indeed weakened and the girl had apparated to take Ivana by surprise. But Fleur knew that this was no mere disapparition. Because, she had already seen it done before... by the stealer of her first kiss.


	18. Friend

Amidst the cheers and screams of the crowd, Harry received his prize by Fleur Delacour herself. A gift voucher worth of significant amount of Galleons and a letter of invitation to the Delacour Chateau.

"Congratulations, Sakura," Fleur said with a practiced smile.

"T-T-T-Thanks," Harry sputtered but did manage to produce a response.

He was having a hard time being in front of her without mucking it all up. It was so easy to get lost in her big blue eyes, her wavy blonde hair and her regal features. Not to mention about other feminine wiles of her body, oh the curves!

 _No no no! Snap out of it dammit!_ He pinched himself in his thighs discreetly. Fleur though, seemed to have noticed as she raised her eyebrows in response.

"The date and time of our trip is in that letter. It shall also serve as your pass. Be sure to not forget it, our guards are pretty stubborn when it comes to security."

"Y-Y-Y-Yes, m-mam," he sputtered again ( _arghhhhhh)_

After Fleur had met with other contestants and offered words of praise and best luck, she departed from the event, leaving a dazed Harry who was being targeted by the press and other envious girls. Needless to say, they couldn't get a hold of him.

* * *

The first thing Harry saw in his sensei's face was surprise. Amusement then followed which proceeded to become a full blown hysterical laugh.

"You? On a shopping trip with her? HAhahaha, Oh this is good," sensei couldn't stop laughing.

"It's your fault! Why didn't you tell me that it was a duelling event with such kind of reward? I wouldn't have bothered participating had I known about it beforehand," Harry grumbled.

His sensei, after he had had his fill of laughing, replied, "Look, kid, the only French I know is many many years old, haven't been to that part of the world for a long time, you see. Besides, the girls there were only gossiping about how she was going to be at that event, and spoke nothing about the Duelling portion.

"And you didn't exactly try to lose now, did you? What were you thinking trying to impress that girl?"

"I was not trying to impress her!" He snapped… and then followed weakly, "Okay, maybe I was."

Harry clutched his hairs in frustration, "Argh, Sensei, help me, will you? I absolutely can't resist her allure. It's driving me crazy."

Sensei said with good humor, "Ahh, don't worry too much about it my disciple. All boys around your age tend to become foolish around girls that pretty. It'll pass away with time."

Harry seriously doubted that. Regardless, what else could he do except for not appearing in front of her anymore. Now that he thought about it, why should he go to her chateau anyways? Indeed, he could not go. In fact, he will not go at all!

And thus, Harry found himself one fine Saturday afternoon in Delacour Chateau.

* * *

"Eeek!"

The first thing Harry (Sakura) encountered after he went past the guards and into the chateau was Fleur. But somehow, she was shrunk. No wait, that didn't seem right. Why was the miniature Fleur so flustered in front of him? Usually it was the other way around.

"Gabby! What happened?"

Great, now it was an older version of Fleur.

"Oh! It's you!?" The woman was absolutely delighted at her appearance. "You are early."

"Sorry," he had the decency to be shy. He had wanted to wait for a bit but somehow his feet wouldn't agree.

"Oh nonsense! You are most welcome anyways. Come inside now," the older Fleur gracefully welcome her inside and made her feel at ease.

"I'm Apolline Delacour, Fleur's mother," she said warmly.

"Oh, hello mam-"

He was cut off mid way by a very enthusiastic introduction,

"I'm Gabby!"

Harry looked down at the little girl. Well, she was quite adorable that was for sure.

"Hello Gabby, I'm Sakura," he replied gracefully. Something resembling two stars were forming on little Gabby's eyes but Harry didn't notice.

"Oh, it's you," a very cool and measured voice entered the room and suddenly Harry felt the entire room lit up.

Fleur Delacour had entered, her father closely behind her.

"Let's not dilly-dally anymore. I have lots of things to do so let's just wrap this up real quick," said she and started walking out. Gabrielle protested about how she wanted to spend more time with her new idol and even Apolline mentioned about there not being such a hurry but Fleur heard none of it. She led a very stiff and awkward Sakura outside with her.

"We won't be needing you today Francis," Fleur said to the wizard who had already following her.

"But Mademoiselle," Francis cried in alarm.

"No, Francis, You don't need to worry about me. I'm in a very secure company, am I not, Sakura?" Fleur asked her shopping companion.

"H-Huh? Oh y-yea. She is," Sakura managed to reply.

"There, you see? Alright, let's go then."

Harry immediately went stiff as Fleur took his hands and disapparated on the spot.

* * *

Fleur had perhaps wanted to bring the two of them to the premise of some fashionable robe outlet, but they seemed to have somehow missed their destination. They surely didn't welcome the guests with hexes now, did they?

As soon as the duo had appeared at the place, the first thing Harry had registered was the bludgeoning hex flying towards Fleur.

He hastily managed to jump in between Fleur and the spell and thus, ended up taking the spell in his right arm i.e. his wand arm.

 _Expelliarmus_

A spell sounded and Fleur's wand too flew out of her hand.

The pain shooting up from his arms was immense but somehow Harry managed to clear his head in time. _Pain could compromise your organs but you shouldn't let it compromise your mind_ , his sensei had said.

"Fleur, Fleur, Fleur," said a voice which belonged to a man that Harry couldn't recognize.

There were seven of them, he registered and none of them were masked. He memorized their facial features with exceptional details, it might come handy later.

"Who are you? And how did you mess my disapparition?" Fleur said. Apparently, she didn't recognize them either.

"Ah, that is a million galleon question now, isn't it?" the man said.

"You thought you would get away from us bitch?" another man snarled at her, "Today shall be the day when the supposedly most beautiful witch of France learns just what she is. A filthy half-breed."

Fleur winced at that.

"Enough talk, Michael. Just disrobe her already," another one said.

"Well, the guys sure are impatient," the guy, Michael, replied. "Alright then lads, she's all yours, go on and enjoy!"

He said with flair.

"Hey," a voice interrupted, "Aren't you guys forgetting about me?" The purple haired Sakura was behind the lot of them. She was clutching her hand. If it was in pain then her face wasn't showing any. It was instead radiating immense fury. Of the likes that Fleur never could have imagined on such a sweet girl.

"Oh your turn will come too," one of the boys said, while eyeing her the wrong way.

"Really now, let's see then, no?"

While it was said that once you injured your wand arm, you are already defeated in your duel, it wasn't necessarily true in all cases. For instance, ambidextrous people would find swishing and flicking with the opposite arm quite natural. Of course, there had to have some practice beforehand of the said spell. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't ambidextrous.

Still, even if one weren't ambidextrous, it was possible to cast magic with the same precision and control. With practice, of course. Hours and hours worth of practice done continuously over the span of years. Fortunately, Harry had that.

His sensei was adamant about him being able to wield both of his hands in combat. Whether it be of a physical nature or of a magical nature. When Harry had complained about it being unnecessary in the starting days, his sensei had tripled his practice and had explained at the end (when Harry was begging for mercy at his sensei's feet) that incapacitating one's dominant arm wasn't that much uncommon in combat. Lo and behold, sensei was right… as always.

A barrage of spells rained down from Harry's wand.

 _Stupefy, Confringo, Diffindo_

So on and so forth. The boys immediately put up their shields but so strong were the raining spells that they soon found their shields crumbling under the might of it.

"Stop it," Fleur said.

"Diffindo!" Sakura didn't pay her any heed.

"Protego!" Fleur erected her shield which took the impact with Harry's spell and crumbled down.

"Confri-"

"I said stop it!" Fleur shrieked.

Well, that certainly managed to make its way past Harry's focused ears. He stopped.

"It's enough. You've punished them enough already," Fleur said while motioning to the seven boys collapsed on the ground coughing and panting in magical exhaustion.

"I would have punished them enough when I kill them, stand aside," Harry commanded.

Fleur was apparently taken by surprise. That meek girl from before was not only disregarding her words but was also directly contradicting her. And what was that talk about killing!?

"That's enough, now."

A new voice interjected. This was Idunno Delacour. A handful of wizards apparated in the scene and began tending to the injured boys.

Harry was confused. "What's this all about?" He asked.

"I apologize Mademoiselle," Idunno said earnestly, "We wanted to be completely sure about your combat capabilities. We already know that you are an accomplished dueller but true combat has many unforeseen circumstances. This was a controlled exercise to measure you and we assure you that you were under no harm."

While Harry wanted to be sarcastic and point to his arm which had taken full brunt of the bludgeoning hex, he couldn't muster enough sarcasm to actually do so. He was already very angry.

"What were you thinking!?" He lashed out at Idunno, "I wasn't under any danger!? Why would I be under any danger? Do you know how close I was to killing those seven?"

Both Fleur and Idunno gaped at the response. They really hadn't thought about that possibility.

"And why would you want to test my combat capabilities anyway?"

"W-we want you to serve as a bodyguard to Fleur," Idunno said awkwardly.

"Are you barmy? Why would I serve as her bodygua-"

Harry stopped right in track. What did the man say? Bodyguard of Fleur Delacour… surely that can't be. A bodyguard is supposed to stay by his charge's side at all times, right? Stay by Fleur's side, day and night?

Harry had nearly agreed then and there but fortunately, he still had some sense remaining. He could see the absurdity of the situation.

"Absolutely not," he denied flatly.

"Those seven you dealt with?" Fleur's sweet voice rang, "They are Auror trainees. You were not expected to defeat them and they were merely here to gauge your combat capabilities and your maneuvers in the face of adversity. Michael! How did she fare?" She cried out to a far away wizard who was being carried out to the nearest wizarding center.

"P-p-pass," Michael said and fainted.

"See that? You are strong, Sakura," said Fleur (and Harry actually blushed), "Please, I need your help. Will you not help your friend?"

Fleur had gotten very very close to him and had taken both of his hands on her hands. Her big blue eyes were staring at him intensely in a most expectant sort of look. Most of all, did she call him a friend?

"I-I… why not?" Harry agreed, all thoughts of why he simply shouldn't be doing that thrown out of the window.

Fleur gave a dazzling smile in return and Harry lost himself in it. It was only Idunno who comprehended that victorious expression hidden behind his daughter's smiling face.

And thus began, what Harry would later describe, as his most weird and amazing Hogwarts' year in his biography.


	19. Abraxan

Harry had thought that his sensei would at least chide him for that irresponsible bodyguard duty he had brought upon himself but to his surprise he only gave an acknowledgement and a flat response ("This would be a good infiltration exercise for you"). That was one worry out of the way.

Remarkably, Fleur also did take Harry on a shopping trip with her and was largely appalled that Sakura didn't simply have any dressing sense at all.

"Non, non, non!" Fleur would say at any choice he'd made and then would proceed to choose one herself. Harry had to admit when looking at Sakura in the mirror, Fleur was quite talented in the clothing department.

What then followed was getting to know Fleur. The girl could talk. On and on she would go about different topics ranging from dueling to current fashion trends. Poor Harry could only nod because he didn't even understand half of the things she said at times.

One good thing that came out of this endeavor was that Ivana, the finalist that Harry had defeated, had agreed to train her.

"You have remarkable build for someone so young. Your reflexes are astonishing and your spells are powerful. Sakura, the only thing you currently lack is variety and some creativity," Ivana had said.

Apparently, Idunno had planned to pay a large sum of money for whoever was going to be Fleur's bodyguard to be trained by Ivana. But, Ivana had instead approached herself to take Sakura as a protege. Idunno had burst in joy at the turn of events and had arranged for a world class dueling ring for the two to train in.

This was precisely the reason that Harry's main body had been staying in France while his clones had been substituting and studying in Hogwarts. After all, Harry couldn't possibly risk vanishing in a puff of smoke while his dueling session lasted. This arrangement, though, wouldn't have been possible at first because he would have required his wand to both duel with Ivana and for his spellworks. But thanks to his sensei, he had finally managed to apply the Geminio charm on his wand. That had been a day to remember.

* * *

"Is this the place you were talking about Sensei?"

The two of them were in a very dark and congested passageway that lead to a small room.

"Yes. Here resides one of the best wandmaker of this century," his sensei replied.

"Isn't that Ollivander though?" Harry asked.

"From what I have gathered," sensei said as the two made their way towards the room, "Ollivander is trained in the art of wand-making in the traditional sense. He doesn't possess experimental tendencies. You magic users apparently hate the concept of experimenting with one's wand. But this guy doesn't hesitate. Be grateful, kid. It took a lot of time and effort for your sensei to track this one down."

Harry once again was amazed. To track down such a well hidden wizard was quite the mean feat, specially for someone like his sensei who wasn't well-acquainted with magic and the magical world.

"We're here," sensei motioned Harry to stop.

"Who's there!" a worried voice sounded.

"It's me," sensei said calmly.

It was quiet for a moment before the voice once again said, "Come inside."

When Harry entered the room, the first thing that hit him was the smell. All sorts of pungent smells lingered in that room. It kind of reminded him of his potions classroom, only worse. The room was dimly lit but at least it was more visible inside than the passageway itself.

The man whom the voice had belonged to was a hunchback. He was wearing a cloak and was deliberately trying to hide his face. He apparently was scared. Whatever of, Harry had no idea.

"Did you bring the wand?" the man croaked.

"Yes. Kid, give him your wand," sensei motioned and Harry obliged.

"11 inch, Holly and Phoenix feather. Ollivander's work. The Phoenix feather makes it tricky. Do you have the other core?"

"Yes," sensei replied and gave the man a box which was practically radiating magic.

Sensing the confused look on Harry's face, his sensei explained.

"The wand is a special thing. It consists of a wand core which comes from magical beings. In a sense, the core is still alive and while a shadow clone jutsu can replicate everything non-living in your body, it can't possibly replicate a living thing that is other than you. The way our trick is going to work is, we'll somehow assimilate another magical core in your main wand. Whenever you then try the shadow clone jutsu, a variant of Geminio charm will be triggered and the cores will split themselves up. Your main body will have the phoenix feather still and the clone wand will have this another core."

"A crude explanation," the wandmaker said to Harry, "but somewhat accurate one. Wizards have tried this for centuries to apply Geminio to their wands. There are some who aim to have two of the wands for both of their hands, you see. However, it is nigh impossible to clone a sentience with Geminio.

"There are workarounds however. Like your teacher explained, one workaround is to use multiple cores and assimilate them in a single wand. When Geminio charm is then used upon that wand, the cores separate themselves and you then have two wands of different cores. There are problems, however. Two wand cores can't co-exist unless it's from the same magical being. If it isn't from the same being, then the requirement for the extra core becomes special. It must be voluntarily given and should have special relation with the wielder of the wand. And to top it all, it should be from a powerful magical creature. Very very powerful creature."

Sensei nodded and told the wandmaker, "It fulfills your criteria."

The wandmaker was extremely doubtful, "Only thing I know of with such power is either a powerful Dragon's heartstring or a Basilisk's Horn. Both of them are never willingly given. I don't know of any other magical creature."

Still, the man opened the box that sensei had given him. Inside there was a single strand of a red hair. The man, to Harry's disbelief, tasted the hair and abruptly pulled it out from his tongue.

"What is it!?" the man hissed.

"A hair," sensei replied.

"Yes! But of what creature? The magical power contained in it is amazing! Never have I held such a powerful core in my hand. It's wasted in such a poor design. Allow me to make a wand out of it instead. Oh the wand I could make! Such power it will have!"

"Stop it Gregor," sensei said in a very threatening tone, "You will do as we have agreed upon."

There was something in his sensei's voice that Harry had never felt before. Each word from sensei's mouth were as sharp as a Damascus steel itself and the killing intent on him was so heavy that Gregor was finding very hard to breathe.

The threat apparently worked. Gregor nodded meekly and sensei let the air return to normal once again.

What then followed was hours of carving on the floor and on the wand itself. Runes of ancient Greek and Egyptian were carved with absolute precision by Gregor. Harry was only now starting to realise that Gregor indeed was a genius wand-maker, as his sensei had told him.

After the last of the runes had been carved, Gregor placed the wand and the core inside the ritual circle and began chanting spells that Harry had no idea about.

The circle started pulsating with magic and the wand core that his sensei had brought started slithering towards Harry's Holly wand and before Harry's eyes, seamlessly merged with it.

The wand started convulsing. It appeared as if a war was waging inside. Eventually, the tremble slowed down and everything returned to calm.

"Hold the wand, the first touch is important after these rituals," Gregor said.

Harry slowly moved inside the circle and held the wand. An intense joy and warmth started radiating from the wand which abruptly started shooting fireworks from the tip.

"Well, give it a try," sensei asked.

Harry effortlessly went through the hand seals and created a clone of himself. The clone, too, was holding a wand of his own. Without waiting for anything else, the clone cried,

"Aguamenti!"

A thick jet of water spread out from the wand-tip drenching his sensei from head to toe.

"Oops, sorry sensei," Harry's clone said. Harry, however, knew that he wasn't sorry at all.

* * *

Even after Harry had taken the job of being Fleur's bodyguard, he was spending a very limited time with the latter. Reason being that his role was only important when it was the time for the tri-wizard tournament. Thus, in the meanwhile, Harry spent most of his time with Ivana which Fleur often complained about.

"Just how much energy do you have?" Fleur grumbled one fine day.

Harry, who was eating a very well made French dish whose name he knew not, looked up at her in confusion.

"Train, train and train. You train all the time!"

Harry still found it confusing. Just what was the problem? Wasn't he training for her? Shouldn't she be happy that he was giving his all just for her protection?

"I mean, it's been ages since we've spent time together you know," Fleur complained.

The two of them had been fast friends… or at least Harry thought so. For starters, Fleur was no longer so cold towards him and she did always share her things with him.

"What do you want me to do?" Harry asked meekly. For some reason, he was still very shy around Fleur. It was totally embarrassing.

"Hmm… let's do this. You shall accompany me to Beauxbaton today," Fleur asserted.

"B-but, today's transfiguration duelling," Harry hesitated.

"No ifs and no buts. I shall talk with Ivana. At this rate, she will end up killing you. You need break once in a while," Fleur said seriously.

While it was true that Harry was training continuously for fifteen hours a day for more than a few weeks but wasn't that how one normally trained?

Regardless, Fleur had already spoken and the one thing that Harry had learned during his course of interaction with Fleur was that she could be very stubborn.

And indeed, she showed her stubbornness once again. To the utmost displeasure of Ivana, Fleur managed to steal Harry for that day.

* * *

"This is quite spacious," Harry remarked.

Beauxbaton was nothing like Hogwarts. It was, as Harry said, quite spacious. There was adequate sunlight everywhere. In fact, the main hall was so large that an entire quidditch game could be played comfortably in there.

Beauxbaton was magical, that was for sure. While Hogwarts was weird and confusing, Beauxbaton was ordered. The passageways were charmed in such a way that taking one step actually took one much further. Fleur described it as spatial compression magic. In libraries, the books would often seek the people themselves, as if sensing just what knowledge they required at times.

There were all kinds of classes there. For example, there was a swordplay class where a lone sword would duel with the students, depending upon their level of mastery. Horseplay class was especially interesting. It was held in a very large and open field where they also played quidditch. Beauxbaton had these amazing horses called Abraxans. Fleur excitedly described about them to Harry.

"These are so powerful creatures you know. Legend has it that their ancestors used to be a ferocious beast which wreaked havoc in these parts. Then Beauxbaton's first headmaster actually fought with the horse for three days and three nights and ended up taming it. Since then, Beauxbaton always have had a herd of these Abraxans."

"As knowledgeable as always, aren't you Fleur?" A new voice interrupted.

"Oh, hello Sarah," Fleur replied.

"Hello Fleur, Sakura," Sarah greeted Harry too.

Harry recognized her as the raven haired girl which had given him some trouble during the dueling competition.

"So, giving Sakura the school tour?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, can you believe it? She is home-schooled! To have no idea about a magical school is so unfortunate," Fleur lamented.

"I've heard many things about Hogwarts though," Harry said.

"Hearing is not the same as experiencing," Fleur said kindly, "Besides, Hogwarts is not a proper magical school." She scoffed.

"I've heard that they actually keep Threstals there," Sarah added.

"Yes! Threstals, can you believe it? They are bearer of bad luck." Fleur said.

Harry actually knew about what Threstal were and while he quite agreed that they looked hideous, he didn't actually thought so bad of them. Once or twice when he had visited their pack in the Forbidden forest, they had gathered excitedly around him and had sniffed and nibbled at him.

But whatever. Harry knew better than to argue about it. Besides, he didn't even had to because something very exciting happened right there and then. An Abraxan horse took flight abruptly. There was a rider seated in there but the angle from which they were watching, they couldn't figure it out just who it was.

The horse began flying up in air haphazardly, as if it was out of control. A very young voice was crying in alarm which, unfortunately, all of them recognized at once.

""Gabby!"" Fleur and Sarah cried out immediately.

Harry was alarmed as well. While he didn't interact much with the young Delacour, from what he had gathered, she was a sweet kid. And while she was also known to be terribly naughty, actually climbing on top of an Abraxan was some next level thing.

"Gabby! Get down this instant!" Fleur exclaimed, not in anger but in extreme worry. It was useless, though, because the horse wasn't in Gabby's control at all.

The horseriding teacher, a man of a powerful build, also stood there for a second in a daze. It was only after a moment that he actually snapped out and burst into action.

He rode into one of the horse himself and dove it into the sky.

He, however, could not get anywhere near the horse. The Abraxan was still out of control and flying here and there abruptly.

"Sakura, save her!" Fleur turned around to her bodyguard only to find that she was not there.

"Look! There!" Someone in the crowd exclaimed.

There at the top of the quidditch hoops, stood a lone girl. Her pink hair and lithe stature was visible for all to see. Everyone in the ground were stunned. Fleur and Sarah even more so. It was only a few second before that she was behind the two, just when did she get there?

The Abraxan was flying near the three quidditch hoops and the instructor was trying to somehow get near the uncontrolled one and rescue Gabby to no avail.

"You!" Sakura cried to the instructor. He looked up at her in response.

"Get in between us," she more or less commanded him. The man, too stunned to see a girl standing on top of the central hoop, slowly got in between the quidditch hoops and the still uncontrolled Abraxan.

Gabby was shrieking uncontrollably. The reins were in her hand and she was holding onto it very tight or she would have slipped already but the thrashing about of the Abraxan had made her dizzy. She slowly let go of the rein and was thrown off as a result.

""Gabby!"" Fleur and Sarah cried out in alarm.

Harry had already burst into action. He jumped from the hoop towards the instructor mid-air. Landing neatly into his horse. Without stopping, he pushed it down and took a leap again towards the falling Gabby. The gap between them was very large but Harry's jump had been a powerful one. He shot towards Gabby and grabbed the unconscious girl in his arms to the cheer of the dozens of students below.

But Harry knew that it was just the easy part. The hard part was the landing.

As soon as he had grabbed Gabrielle, the two of them began falling downwards. Thankfully, there was something to hold on to for Harry.

The previously thrashing Abraxan which had now calmed down after throwing off its unwelcome rider, had been nearby when Harry had caught Gabrielle. Harry extended his arms out and grabbed the poor horse' tail.

It began neighing in pain and began kicking behind to incapacitate the perpetrator.

Harry, though, was very nimble. He dodged the kicks by a hair's breadth. But he knew that hanging there for a long while was not good, especially since he was holding Gabby in one arm.

The people below, who were cheering just an instant before were now horrified. Abraxans were known to be quite the vicious kickers. Fleur and Sarah were especially worried to death.

The instructor in mid-air was now hastily making his way towards the kicking Abraxan and while it would have been helpful if the dumb man had gone below the two, he was of no help at all right now.

In a very wild move, the Abraxan kicked with both of its hooves. Harry, who was still holding to its tail with one arm, bent both of his knees to receive the horse's hooves. For anyone else, it was a recipe of fractured feet but Harry instead met the horse's hooves and pushed on it, swinging both Gabby and himself over the Horse's back to the saddle. It was quite the spectacular scene.

"Down!" He pulled the rein hard and kicked with both of his feet on the horse's side… very hard.

The horse cried in pain and started moving around to thrash its rider again but it was no little child this time. This time, it was a very angry and very powerful Harry, who was kicking at the horse's side relentlessly. The horse eventually tired out and started descending right in the middle of the field.

As soon as the horse's hooves touched the ground, Harry jumped off its back. He slowly put Gabrielle down on the field and eyed the horse warily, lest it thought any better. It was needless, though, because all that poor horse wanted to do right now was to get away from Harry as fast as possible.

People congregated immediately. The first to reach there being a very worried and crying Fleur. She bent down upon her sister and started chanting medical spells immediately. Harry recognized them to be the diagnostics spell which checked the vitals and the overall injuries of the patient. Thankfully, Gabby was only dizzy, as the spell showed.

Sarah, meanwhile, came near Sakura and eyed her from her head to toe in disbelief.

"You aren't injured at all?" She asked incredulously.

"No," Harry replied simply.

"Matter of fact, you aren't even sweating," she surveyed her once again.

Harry simply shrugged.

"You are going to have many admirers, do you know that?" Sarah told him once again, looking around the many boys who were eyeing Sakur with heart shaped pupils.

Well, that certainly spelled trouble, Harry thought.

Right then, something hit him with force. It was Fleur.

She was sobbing uncontrollably and sputtering words of thanks in between.

Harry didn't know how to console her so he just patted her in a very awkward fashion. Fleur immediately calmed down. She withdrew and composed herself and then said in a steady voice,

"Thank you so much for saving my sister, Sakura. Oh, if something had happened to Gabby, I would have never forgiven myself."

"It's nothing," Harry said meekly. Fleur was too close to him and it was kinda making him faint-headed.

"No! This time, I am indebted to you. Thank you so much once again!" She said and hugged him again... tightly.

Harry couldn't compose any response this time because her hair was in his face. Her perfume smelled so nice that he could almost lose himself in it. Her body felt warm and he found himself melting in her arms. And wait… in his chest, what was that soft sensation? Hmm… his nose felt wet… w-why was he bleeding?


	20. Nightmare

Gabby was grounded… for life. She apparently had seen both her sister and her bodyguard in the field and had some wild idea about showing up on a horse to amaze them out of their wits… yeah, not exactly the best idea of the century.

As for Harry, he was thanked endlessly by Idunno and Apolline for hours and hours. No matter how much he told them that it was nothing, they kept going on and on about how "you risked your life!" for their daughter. Of course, Harry couldn't come forth and say that he wasn't exactly in any danger at all, so he just kept quiet and let them go on for another couple of hours.

A good thing that came out of it was that he got a pay raise (yay!) and a very bad thing that came out of it was that he got fans. So many of them. Whenever he would accompany Fleur to Beauxbatons the next time, boys all around would stare at her and a few daring ones would come forth to declare their love for her. Unfortunately, they spoke in French so he didn't really have any idea about what they were saying but from what Fleur told him, some of them were quite poetic.

Gabby too, once she was out of the hospital wing, had a worshipping look on her face whenever she came face to face with him. She had started vying for his attention and from what he realised, was quite jealous that he was Fleur's bodyguard.

All of these things were starting to get on his head, so he did what he did in these times. He trained. Ivana was once again glad that she got her protege back and was making him work to his bone. His dueling skills soared with new transfiguration spells and battle charms added to his repertoire. In fact, so good was he getting in dueling that during a few times, he would automatically know just what spell was Ivana going to throw at him. Mark of a great duelist, Ivana had commented.

* * *

It was a quite special day. The delegation from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were supposed to arrive today. Hogwarts, as a host, was decorated in all her glory and the entire student body as well as the staff were gathered outside the castle to welcome the delegation from the two schools.

"How do you reckon the students are like in those schools?" asked Ron.

The three of them were among the gathered crowd and were talking amongst themselves.

"They are just normal students, very much like you and me Ron," Hermione answered.

"Well yeah, they are, but don't you think they could be different? I mean, they don't teach the stuff they teach at Hogwarts to them. So maybe they learned things differently?"

"Don't know much about Durmstrang but Beauxbatons students have the same core classes. Their Potions is a bit slimmed down from ours though. They instead have extracurriculars like Horse-riding, Swordplay and Dueling," Harry said without taking his eye off the sky.

Both Ron and Hermione looked at him in surprise.

"And how do you know that?" Hermione asked.

"H-Huh?" Harry realised that perhaps he shouldn't have supplied that bit of information so casually. Nevertheless, he fixed it up, "I have an acquaintance in Beauxbatons. She told me about it."

That was quite enough for Ron but not for Hermione.

"You've never mentioned about this acquaintance before Harry," she said in a suspicious tone.

"Guess I forgot," Harry shrugged.

"You know, you've been a lot different this term," Hermione started. "All of the time you bury yourself in books from the libraries. And then there's your sudden interest in Dueling. How did you get so good at it anyways?"

"Yeah mate, while I do like the fact that you thrashed Malfoy single handedly that one time but we don't see enough of you these days," Ron also complained.

It was true. In between his classes, Fleur's bodyguard duty, dueling training and Chakra training with his sensei, Harry was having trouble managing time for his friends, even with all the clones that he had.

"Sorry guys," he said sincerely. "I guess this tournament has just made me nervous so I'm giving my all in preparation for something unexpected."

This bit was true. Judging from his past experiences, Harry was pretty sure that this year too, there was going to be trouble for him.

Both Ron and Hermione softened. They were well-acquainted with the sort of situation that Harry often found himself in.

"You know you can tell us if there's something you need help with, right?" Hermione said.

"Of course," Harry said with a smile.

"Look!" Students around the trio suddenly started pointing in the sky. A faint silhouette was making its way towards the Hogwarts ground.

"It's a carriage," Ron inferred.

"Yes, looks like it's being pulled by something though," Hermione also observed.

"They're Abraxan horses. Very powerful and suitable for pulling carriages in air for a long journey." Harry said nonchalantly.

Ron and Hermione once again looked at him incredulously and Harry could only shrug.

Durmstrang too, made a spectacular entry via the Black Lake. Ron was especially excited to see Viktor Krum make his way out of the ship.

The delegation from Beauxbatons also got down gracefully from their carriage.

"They're not here," Harry said to himself.

The students from both schools had gathered and were now being ushered inside the castle. But the ones that Harry had been waiting for had not been among them.

"Who're not here?" Ron asked.

"Never mind Ron, let's get inside."

The two were among the last to have stood outside in wait. Just as the duo were making their way inside, three people emerged from the nearest Beauxbatons carriage.

Harry felt it at first and stopped in his track. He immediately turned around. Ron, confused by Harry's behavior, did the same.

Ron became stunned by the sight before him. Three girls had emerged from the carriage. In the front was the definition of elegance itself. She was slim and dressed in Beauxbatons' dress, her blond hair danced with the wind as she made her way towards the castle door. Following behind her were two other girls. One a raven haired girl who was quite stunning. But of more note was the last girl. She looked of Asian origin. Her hair was a distinct shade of pink and unlike other students who wore the traditional Beauxbatons dress, she had modified hers for greater mobility. The skirt was replaced with tight pants in the same color and she was constantly looking around for any hint of danger.

Besides him, Harry too, had been fixated on his spot. At that moment, Ron couldn't blame him. The sight before the two was that intense.

As the three girls passed the two gaping boys and made their way towards the castle, Ron heard Harry mutter "Fleur" in a soft voice.

The girl in the lead, Fleur (Ron presumed), stopped. She looked back at the still gaping Harry curiously.

"And just how do you know my name?" Fleur asked testily.

"I-I-I-I," Harry stammered.

"You-You-You-You," a girl, Harry knew her to be Sarah, replied in amusement.

"Let's not linger here," the pink haired girl's voice came as a life-saver.

Fleur, thank Merlin, obliged. She still had that annoyed look upon her face when she entered the castle.

Ron also noticed that the pink haired girl was giving sympathetic looks to his now beet red friend.

After all three girls had entered the castle, he turned towards Harry and said,

"Wasn't that the same girl-"

"Yes," Harry replied.

"Do you reckon she recognized us?"

"No… I don't think so," Harry said thoughtfully.

Both of them looked at each other and sighed. Being a hormonal male was difficult these days.

* * *

After the day had ended, the three girls had retired to their room.

"When do you plan to enter your name in the Goblet?" Sarah asked Fleur.

"Hmm… as soon as possible. In fact, I think I'll enter it tomorrow. Are you entering too Sarah?" Fleur asked.

The selection mechanism was kept a secret until the reveal today by Albus Dumbledore. The girls were quite intrigued and a little thankful that they didn't have to go through another strenuous selection procedure like a competition or something.

"Need you even ask?" Sarah answered as she lied in her bed. "Just you see Fleur, I shall be the champion this time around," she said, competition burning in her eyes.

"Ha! Dream on," Fleur countered.

"What about you Sakura?" Sarah asked.

"Huh? What about me?" Harry asked.

"Are you entering too? Technically, you are also a Beauxbatons student," Sarah reminded her.

In order to accompany Fleur, Idunno had paid for his admission in Beauxbatons.

"No," Harry said with finality. "My job is to protect Fleur, nothing else." he answered.

 _Besides, I am under age,_ he thought to himself.

Both Fleur and Sarah let out a breath that they didn't know that they had been holding.

"What?" Harry asked as he saw the girls get visibly relaxed.

"You don't know do you? Had you entered your name, no one else would have had any chance at all," Sarah replied.

"Indeed, thanks for not entering Sakura," Fleur said while holding out her tongue.

"By the way, Fleur, did you notice anything special about those boys outside earlier?" Sarah changed the conversation topic.

"Other than the fact that they were drooling all over me? No," Fleur scoffed.

Harry, by her side, winced. He now understood just why Fleur hated the boys' attention. None of them seem to be able to keep their wits about when she was in front of them. He had noticed it first hand in Beauxbatons where countless boys would practically kneel in front of her declaring their undying love. Once or twice was awkward, a dozen or so times was exasperating but make it hundreds of times and it was, frankly, infuriating.

"The one with the spectacles, he who called your name? Wanna guess who he was?" Sarah asked.

"Harry Potter," Harry himself replied.

"Yes!" Sarah exclaimed. "You know, he is only a fourth year but my oh my, the boy sure doesn't look his age."

"He was kind of tall," Fleur remarked.

"And muscular," Sarah said dreamily.

"It doesn't matter even if it is the Boy-Who-Lived himself. If he drools, he is annoying," Fleur said.

"He is not so bad," Harry replied automatically.

"And how would you know that?" Fleur eyed her bodyguard suspiciously.

"I mean… some of my friends go to Hogwarts. They said that he is a good kid."

Fleur was not entirely convinced but didn't pursue the matter further. They spent the rest of the night discussing about the kind of the tasks that might come in the tournament. Wild speculations about Dementors, Nundus and Dragons were made and at the end, all of them felt soundly asleep.

* * *

 _It was an open field. There was howling in air. She stood alone in between the packs of wild beasts baring their fangs at her. All around her were the mutilated bodies of people who had been there to protect her. A wild beast snarled at her and jumped at her throat._

Fleur woke up with a start. She had had that same dream again. Ever since that traumatic experience of the Quidditch Finale, she had been having these nightmares. Up till now, no one knew because she didn't want to worry her friends or family by telling them about it. But today, someone noticed it for the first time.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"I-I'm fine," she replied.

"Is it a nightmare?" he asked in a slow voice.

"I said I'm fine," she said irritably.

Harry slowly got up from his bed and sat in front of hers. He looked at her flushed face and felt her quick breaths but didn't push her to say anything. He just sat there and remained without speaking anything.

"My family was threatened," Fleur started after a long pause. "My father, he was opposing a bill that would have harmed many of the French magical population. He was very fierce about it. As a result, he made some very powerful enemies.

"They said that they would kill off me and Gabby if father didn't budge. Naturally, we paid no heed to it. That was a mistake. Last time, when I was attending the Quidditch world cup… t-they attacked and killed my bodyguards. There were werewolves. Oh so many of them. I was so scared, Sakura."

Fleur trembled in remembrance.

"I was so sure that I was going to die. Even now, I dream about that night. About what might have happened…"

"Nothing is going to happen to you Fleur," Harry took her hands in his and said resolutely, "I promise."

Fleur visibly relaxed. A small smile was upon her face as she said, "That day, an unknown person saved me. You should have seen the way he danced in between those creatures and cut their heads as if they were cucumbers. I don't remember anything else about him as I couldn't see his face but I still remember his sword and the way he moved. It's very similar to how you move."

Harry, who had been remembering the day as well, suddenly tensed up in alarm. Fleur had noticed.

"Don't worry," Fleur continued, "There are tribes of people who have unique magic about them. My allure is one such example. Trust me, Sakura, I know better than to ask about it. However, I am pretty sure that he belonged to your tribe."

Harry was immensely thankful for her consideration. It would have been bad had she inquired about it further.

"Alright Fleur, you should get some sleep now," Harry said kindly.

"Sakura…" Fleur said, "I feel safe when you're around. Sleep with me for today?"

"W-w-w-with you?" he stammered.

"Yes, silly. Why do you become so nervous when you're around me?" Fleur asked in amusement.

"I-I'm not nervous," Harry lied. His heart was racing at double its normal speed.

"Prove to me then. Come on, hop in," Fleur said.

Harry gingerly slipped by her side. The bed was warm and smelled of Fleur.

"Hey Sakura," Fleur mumbled.

"Hmm?" He asked

"If you ever meet your tribesman who saved me that day, will you convey my gratitude to him?"

"Sure," he replied.

"And will you also kick him in the balls for me?" Fleur continued.

"Sure… wait, what?"

"That jerk stole a kiss from me," Fleur huffed.

At that moment, Harry was immensely anxious and relieved at the same time. Anxious because he was sleeping besides Fleur. Relieved because she didn't know who he was. Yeah... maybe this bodyguard business wasn't a good idea after all.


	21. Trick Step

Fleur and Sarah had wanted to put their name in the Goblet the very next day but unfortunately, they could only actually do that at the last possible moment. The reason was not that they couldn't find enough time but because whenever they went to register their names, one thing or the other happened.

The first time it was the resident Poltergeist throwing objects around at whoever neared the Goblet. It was quite obsessed with Fleur for some reason, throwing water balloons and whatnots at her.

The second time, the trio lost Sakura somewhere in between. They went to find her but got lost in the castle instead.

"This is simply too ridiculous," Fleur complained, "Just why would these stairs change at all? If this is what they call the British sense of humor then I am not liking it at all Sarah."

"I did hear about Hogwarts being a bit… intriguing," Sarah replied (Fleur scoffed), "but this is too much indeed."

As the two were grumbling and climbing up the stairs, Fleur gave a yelp.

A step from the stairway had vanished all of a sudden resulting in her tumble.

"Oh this is too much!" She raged.

"Hahaha," someone's laugh sounded.

Fleur looked up to find a bemused Boy-Who-Lived.

"And just what," She said in a chilly tone, "are you laughing at?"

Poor Harry instantly shut up.

"..." he muttered something.

"What?" Fleur snapped.

"T-that's a trick step. You've got to remember to jump," he explained nervously.

"Blasted school and it's blasted staircases!" she cursed.

With the help of Sarah, she started to extract herself out of it.

"Careful! No, no, not that way. You'll only end up..." Harry warned.

"Owwww!" Fleur hissed

"...spraining yourself."

"Ouchh," Fleur cried and sat down on the stairs. She had apparently sprained it quite bad.

Harry, upon seeing the injury on Fleur, descended the stairs in speed. Without thinking about just what he was doing, he bent down and took Fleur's ailing leg on his hands and began examining it as if it were a perfectly normal thing to do.

"Doesn't look like a fracture. Madam Pomfrey will fix it up in a jiffy but you'll still have to rest for at least a day," he observed.

Fleur was too much in pain to even register what had happened while Sarah was scandalized at the picture of young Harry comforting Fleur with such warmth.

"Come on, let's bring you to the Hospital wing," he said and tried helping Fleur up but couldn't. Even with his help, Fleur seemed incapable of standing up.

"Where is Sakura when you need her," Sarah remarked with worry.

Harry had the decency to be embarrassed. One of his clones had vanished and he had to go and replenish it once again. That was why he had left the two for just a while but upon returning back had found that the two had ventured in his search instead.

"Don't worry about it, here, let me help," he said and just like that, scooped Fleur up in a princess carry with extreme ease.

 _W-w-w-what?_ Sarah screamed inside. Just what was this situation? If the male population at  
Beauxbatons were to be shown this exact picture, would they not band together to murder Harry?

Regardless, if she had any complaints then they remained unvocalized. Fleur was also not in a good state of mind to properly chide the boy for his hugely inappropriate behavior (besides, it was a medical emergency).

Harry then led the way and brought Fleur to Madame Pomfrey without even breaking a sweat.

"You'll rest here today. I'll inform your headmistress," Madame Pomfrey said to Fleur after treating her while motioning the other two outside. A tired Sarah and a very reluctant Harry left the wing.

Later in the morning, when Fleur regained consciousness, she found Sakura by her bedside, sleeping soundly like a baby. The girl was warming up to her slowly. Just a few weeks before, whenever Fleur got closed to her or touched her, she would act so nervous and fidgety that it was frankly exasperating. Now though, she allowed Fleur to get a bit closer. That certainly was a progress.

Fleur then saw the signs of magical treatment of her legs. The memories about last night then came flooding. She first turned a shade of red in anger at the audacity of that brat. To carry her like that of all things! Then she also remembered how she had felt so comfortable in his arms as if she knew that feeling from somewhere before and then proceeded to turn a very different shade of red.

His help at such difficult time notwithstanding, Fleur vowed to hex the guy to Paris lest he ever touched her again.

* * *

Boys were boys. Wherever Sakura accompanied Fleur, both of them were ogled quite a bit. The Harry inside Sakura was feeling very very violated but he couldn't possibly go and punch Roger Davies in the face now, could he? Fleur had already mastered the art of not giving a single thought to such matters at all. Even now, as the two made their way towards the Goblet of Fire, her head looked straight at the Goblet and nowhere else. Harry, though, was constantly looking around, not only because his eyes would automatically seek his friends but he was also watching out for any signs of danger. Hogwarts was safe but he wasn't going to take any chances.

Fleur walked gracefully towards the goblet, passed the age line with ease and dropped her name inside. Some of the other girls from Beauxbatons, including Sarah, did the same. They were frankly appalled that Sakura had not put her name in. She was a recent transfer student but her feats of taming the Abraxan and rescuing Gabby had already spread all over the school like wildfire.

As they were returning, Sarah pointed to someone in the hall and said to Fleur, "Hey, Fleur, look."

All of them turned to see a lone Harry Potter sleeping with his head on top of a book and snoring.

"What an uncultured fellow." Fleur remarked, "And how do they even tolerate this kind of behaviour in this school? Had this been Beauxbatons, he would have been severely reprimanded."

"He is a star student," a new voice, Draco Malfoy, said.

He had approached the three ladies along with Crabbe and Goyle and had heard the earlier remark.

"He gets away with most of the things simply because he has the stupid monicker of the Boy-Who-Lived." He said in disdain.

As much as Harry wanted to transfigure Malfoy to a little ferret for insulting his main body then and there, he held himself back.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mademoiselle, I am Draco Malfoy." He introduced himself with surprising elegance.

"It's a pleasure as well Mr. Malfoy," Fleur replied politely.

"Mr. Malfoy is my father. Please, call me Draco instead."

Say what you will about the ferret, he sure could be quite charming.

"Draco then," Fleur agreed easily, "is this a usual occurrence? Him sleeping so uncouthly in the open?"

"Oh yes, he does it all the time. He has no regard for the rules and the manners of the school, you see. It was shameful enough before but now he has gone and disgraced our prestigious school in front of our guests too. I ask you to not judge Hogwarts based on this one anomaly alone Miss Delacour."

The Gryffindors around them were seething, Sakura included. Some of them were rolling their sleeves to come over and give Malfoy a good thrashing. But none of them ended up doing anything because someone else had come to Harry's defense instead.

"Mr. Potter is a very diligent student who has consistently improved himself and now ranks among the top of his class."

Minerva McGonagall had somehow chanced upon the conversation.

"And you, Mr. Draco, you should know better to belittle your fellow student in front of our _guests_."

He felt that the guests bit at the last was a little strained. And was THE Minerva McGonagall praising him? He couldn't help but feel proud.

"Sorry Professor," Draco said meekly and promptly excused himself out. He knew better than to play a game of verbal sparring against the sternest witch of Hogwarts.

"I ask you all to be seated," McGonagall said, "the Goblet is ready and it will soon be time for the Champions to be announced."

Fleur pursed her lips but went on ahead and took a seat regardless. Sakura and Sarah followed.

* * *

"Playing favorites, Minerva?" Severus Snape asked McGonagall.

The staffs had already gathered at the staff table and the feast was now ongoing. After the Halloween feast ended, Dumbledore was to announce the champions.

At Snape's inquiry, McGonagall made a very threatening gesture with her eyes.

"Like I said, Severus, I shall not tolerate a student of this school belittling other, specially in front of guests," she replied.

"You'll tolerate one of your lions sleeping in the hall then? And snoring, no less," Snape drawled.

"The Great Hall is not classroom, Severus. Students are free to get some rest here. Especially Mr. Potter," She said.

"You always had a soft spot when it came to Potters," he replied with animosity.

"Oh cut it you two," Pomona interfered.

"Yes, yes," Flitwick squealed, "You know Minerva didn't mean it that way Severus. All of us have felt the amount of work Mr. Potter is putting in his studies. Why, when I was once passing through the corridor of the third floor, he was practicing the Summoning and the Banishing charm in an empty room with such diligence that I would have awarded him 20 points then and there were it not for the fact that it was after the night curfew."

"The boy is brilliant in my class too," Mad-eye Moody said while taking a swig from his flask, "He alone in the class can resist my Imperius Curse (Sprout and McGonagall frowned). That takes a huge will-power."

"His Arithmancy is progressing steadily. If he continues in this way he is sure to be an accomplished Arithmancer," Septima also chimed in.

"And he is simply a genius in runes!" Bathseda Babbling exclaimed. "Why, the boy takes to runes as a fish to the water. Ancient Greek, Egyptian, Persia, you name it. He has somewhat of an obsession with Japanese Runes for some reason though. Keeps on asking me about some Fuuinjutsu thing but alas, I have never heard about it."

Severus hmphed at the enthusiastic recounting of various teachers about Harry Potter. He couldn't deny them, though. He too had noticed the boy's progress. Whatever occasional questions he threw at the boy would be answered with promptness and sometimes, Potter also asked a few insightful questions. His potions was no longer as abysmal as it used to be. In fact, that last Wit-Sharpening Potion was, as much as Severus hated to say, well brewed.

"If I may have your attention," Dumbledore stood up.

"It's time for the Goblet to choose the Champions."

* * *

Harry was exhausted. That was precisely the reason why he had fallen asleep on the Great Hall. Dinner feast be damned, he could always procure it afterwards by asking the house elves, sleep was much more important.

That was why, when he was woken up so unceremoniously by someone shaking him up with vigor, he couldn't help but yell,

"Will you stop it for a second Ron, I am trying to get some bloody sleep here-"

Unfortunately, it was not Ron. It wasn't even Hermione. It was headmaster Dumbledore himself.

"I-I am so sorry Professor," he stammered, "I didn't mean to sleep. I was just so tired and I thought I would take a nap and I somehow slept through and Ron and Hermione didn't even wake me up-"

"Calm down, Harry," Dumbledore said in a flat tone.

This was weird. He had never heard Dumbledore speak like that.

"Will you follow the Champions to the waiting room?" He said.

Harry blinked.

Dumbledore, upon realising that Harry had slept through it all and perhaps did not know where the waiting room was, said, "Will anybody guide Mr. Potter to the waiting room?"

"I'll go," a voice said. Sakura, Harry realised.

"Come on," without waiting for anyone to tell anything else, Sakura made her way from the Beauxbatons table and forcibly pulled up Harry and started leading him on.

On the way, Harry realised that the entire student body of Hogwarts was staring daggers at him.

"What the hell happened?" He asked in trepidation.

"Our luck happened boss," Sakura replied bitterly, "Your name came out of the Goblet."

Harry took a while to register just what his clone was saying.

"Fuck!"

He couldn't help but exclaim.

"10 points from Gryffind-"

"Oh shut the hell up Severus!" McGonagall cried.


	22. First Step

"Who the hell does she think she is?" Harry raged, "Little boy? Do I look like a little boy? That ungrateful woman!"

He was sitting cross legged on the ground, trying to concentrate on the finding his real sensei among the fake illusions scattered all over the chamber.

Sensei sighed. This was the thirteenth time his disciple had complained. The rage had destabilized the chakra flow in Harry's body and the exercise the two had been going through, on dispelling the Genjutsu was resulting in vain.

"Rage clouds the mind," Sensei spoke from somewhere above.

"Yes, yes, hampers judgement, impediments mental growth, obstructs battle awareness… yada yada yada," Harry complained still.

Sensei raised an eyebrow.

"It seems, my disciple, that it's been way too long since we last sparred," he said.

Harry actually gulped.

"Come, let sensei test your progress." All illusions of the senseis were dispelled and only one remained.

Without any further warning, the real Sensei, too, vanished from the head of Salazar Slytherin where was sitting on.

A powerful gust of wind was the only indication of the incoming assault at Harry. He masterfully lowered his body to let that kick harmlessly pass through. Sensei had already followed through with a second kick. Harry crossed his arms to receive them and was blown back and got slammed to the wall of the chambers as a result. Had he not reinforced his arms properly, he was sure that his arms would have disintegrated then and there.

Hastily extracting himself out of his predicament and put himself on guard.

A huge scorching fireball was already upon him.

 _Goukyaku no Jutsu_

He countered with a fireball of his own.

The entire chamber was bathed in yellow and Harry could see nothing in front of him. With instincts honed from countless hours of pounding, he deflected a kunai that had somehow emerged from the still raging fireball.

"Your reactions are good," Sensei's voice sounded from everywhere, "But not enough."

A pair of hands emerged from where Harry was standing on and grabbed his legs.

"Expect attack from all directions, heaven and earth included," Sensei appeared in front of the now incapacitated Harry and lectured.

Harry gave a small smirk… and vanished up in smoke. That had been a shadow clone.

"Cheeky brat," sensei smiled.

Harry, who was actually hiding behind one of the pillars drew upon a huge breath in relief.

"Too loud!" Sensei exclaimed and that was the only warning poor Harry got.

A large chunk of the pillar was destroyed as Harry hastily dodged his sensei's fist of love. Fists rained down on him one by one as Harry moved from pillar to pillar taking cover behind. Most of the pillars of the Chambers were, thus, destroyed.

"Do you want to kill me old man!" Harry screamed injustice.

Sensei, though, took no heed of his disciples word. He threw a single shuriken at where Harry was standing.

 _Shuriiken: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_

The single shuriken multiplied to dozens as they rained down on poor Harry.

 _Kusanagi!_

The sword was instantly on Harry's hand. He weaved it in intricate motion and managed to deflect all of the Kunais aimed at his vitals. A few still made past his defense and kissed his body at different places.

Harry didn't even register the pain.

 _Extend!_

He ordered and the sword multiplied in length, shooting towards his Sensei.

"Rule fifth of Kenjutsu. Greater the sword, greater the reach but poorer the control," Sensei said as he disappeared with a whirlwind and appeared at Harry's side.

Harry, in alarm, tried to swing the now extended Kusanagi but due to its length, was incapable of meeting his sensei's palm strike on time. The sword was now knocked off his hands. Harry did backflips and maintained the distance.

"I've taken it too slow with you till now," Sensei spoke from behind Harry.

 _How did he?_

Harry froze up.

"Life is fraught with dangers, kid. Specially for you. I want you to have a normal life, oh believe me I do. I want you to pursue this girl that you like. I want you to have friends, find love, have kids and lead a boring and peaceful life. But unfortunately, I can't." Sensei sounded sad.

 _Raikiri_

Harry gasped in horror. A bloody palm laced with lightning was in his sight. He could see blood dripping on the floor. His sensei had driven his hand from Harry's back piercing his chest!

"S-sensei…" Harry cried out in shock.

"Kid," sensei said slowly, "you're dead."

The world stopped for a second. Harry blinked and then snapped out of it. The scene in front of him changed.

"Genjutsu!" He muttered in disbelief, "since when?"

"The entire time," his sensei said.

Harry looked around. The place where the two fireball had met was scorched black but it now appeared pristine and unharmed. The pillars that were damaged by his sensei's relentless attacks were now whole. Their spar, the kunai, the raikiri, everything had been a Genjutsu. Even his sensei piercing his chest.

Harry's head spun. He sat down and emptied his stomach.

"Your name has come out of the Goblet." Sensei started, "Why do you think this has happened, kid? Somebody wants to kill you, do you realise it? Or is it that all you can think of at this moment is some girl calling you a little boy?"

His sensei's words hit him like a bludgeoner at his chest. His name had come out of the goblet. Someone had set him up. Someone who probably wanted him to die. Hadn't Hermione said that this tournament was discontinued because all of the participants had perished in one of the tasks?

Sensei placed his hand on Harry's shoulder in a comforting fashion.

"Let your mind rest. Let go of your anger and other useless emotions. Right now, all you should be concentrating on, is your training."

Harry nodded solemnly.

"Come on now, we still have a few hours. Let's wrap up the Genjutsu training soon. Afterwards, I have a much more important thing to impart to you,"

Harry perked up.

"New Jutsu, sensei?" He asked.

"No, no, nothing like that. Just a few books I'd like you to read. They were quite famous in my era," Sensei said mysteriously.

Harry shrugged and promptly sat down. After the waking up call that his sensei had given him, he began training diligently. His control over his Chakra strengthened and he was successful in dispelling most of the simple Genjutsu that his sensei had casted. As a result, after their training session ended, Sensei handed a few books to Harry telling him that it might help him with his recent problems.

Harry looked at the cover of the old books and wondered, just what kind of title was _Icha Icha Paradise?_

* * *

"Oh that insufferable brat!" Fleur raged.

Sarah sighed for the upteenth times. Fleur had been muttering this same exact sentence repeatedly for Merlin knows how many times.

"Let it go Fleur," Sarah tried placating her friend, "Sakura, you tell her."

"Hmm…?" Harry looked up from his copy of Advanced Battle Transfiguration that he'd been reading.

"Tell her what?" He replied in confusion.

"Oh, honestly!" Sarah screamed in frustration towards the duo, "An entire week you (she pointed towards Fleur) ranted about that " _insufferable"_ guy breaking the rule, putting his name in the goblet and whatnots.

"I heard it, patiently. I mean, sure the guy carried you to the Hospital wing when you couldn't walk on your own and somehow his name came out of Goblet alongside yours even if he is not yet of age, but I figured, hey, the girl wants to vent.

"I heard it all. In English, in French and even in that weird Veela language. All sorts of threats and curses. And finally… finally you stopped after the whole week and just when I thought that I would be able to spend my time with you girls in calm… you start again?"

"And you!" She now turned towards Sakura.

"What did I do?" Sakura said innocently.

"That is the very problem! You did nothing. You just remained silent," Sarah complained, "It's your job to calm her down isn't it?"

Technically, bodyguards were indeed also responsible for the good mental health of their charge so Sarah was kind of right but what could Harry possibly do? He couldn't just ask Fleur to stop berating poor little him now could he?

"She is right," Harry said regardless, "it's been far too long since you've been obsessed over him. Besides, I too thought that your anger had died down... what made you start ranting on him again?"

Fleur huffed.

"That boy… ohhhh that stupid boy! You know what he said to me this morning?"

Both Sakura and Sarah shook their heads. Fleur had gone to the Gryffindor table to ask for some dish and while they had observed Harry speaking with Fleur on some topic, they didn't know the details.

"He said, ` _The competition up ahead is going to be very tough_ `," she recounted while trying to mimic Harry's vocal tone.

"Why that's a perfectly logical thing to say-" Sarah said but stopped after Fleur glared at her.

"Then he follows up with..."

""Follows up with?"" Both of them asked.

"... _`You better prepare yourself because I am going to demolish you... blondie!`"_

Sakurua made an O gesture while Sarah exclaimed, "He didn't!"

"But he did!" Fleur cried indignantly, "How I wish I hadn't forgotten my wand at my table! I would have transfigured that little snotty brat to-to-tooo" Fleur fumbled around for options.

"Pygmy puff?" Harry suggested.

"Yes! I would've totally transfigured him to pygmy puff!" Fleur agreed.

Just then, out of nowhere, Sarah started laughing.

"... oh my god… the image…. the image!"

Her laughter was so contagious that Fleur also started laughing along.

Harry also smiled, but for different reason. He was recalling that excerpt from the third chapter of _Icha Icha Paradise._

" _Seduction grows exponentially difficult if the girl you are trying to woo thinks of you as someone younger than her. In those times, never charge forth with goodwill and flatteries because those will then become a sweet gesture, not a charming one._

 _Rile her up instead. Make her angry, incensed even. Become insufferable, snobbish, rude. Become everything that is required to make her think of you at each moment._

 _That... is the first step."_


End file.
